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THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE 

CHURCH  IN  MODERN 

SOCIETY 


BY 


WILLIAM  JEWETT  TUCKER 

EX-PRESIDENT  OF  DARTMOUTH  COLLEGE 
rOKMUtLT  PROFESSOR  IN  ANDOVER  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


msimTTPrsij^i 


BOSTON   AND   NEW  YORK 
HOUGHTON   MIFFLIN   COMPANY 

1911 


# 


.\ 


COPYRIGHT,  191 1,  BY  WILLIAM  JEWETT  TUCKER 
ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED 

Published  March  iqit 


CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTORY  i 

I.   THE    MINISTRY     OF    SPIRITUAL 

AUTHORITY  5 

Roman  Catholicism  and  Protestant- 
ism Contrasted  7 

Effects  of  the  Intellectual  Re- 
vival IN  Christianity  upon  the 
Authority  of  Protestantism  14 

The  Realization  of  the  Freedom  of  the 

Bible  21 

The  Struggle  for  Christian  Unity  23 

The  Apprehension   of  the   Person  of 

Christ  31 

The  Religious   Interpretation  of  the 

World  45 

V 

235433 


CONTENTS 

n.  THE  MINISTRY  OF  HUMAN  SYM- 
PATHY 63 

The  Reconciliation  of  Labor  81 

Religious  Hospitality  92 

Fellowship  the  Basis  op  Modern 
Missions  106 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE 
CHURCH  IN  MODERN  SOCIETY 

INTRODUCTORY 

Of  the  various  ministries  through  which 
the  Christian  Church  has  from  time  to  time 
wrought  effectively  in  society  there  are 
two,  which,  if  exercised  fully  and  in  right 
relation  to  one  another,  may  be  expected  to 
fulfill  in  very  large  degree  the  function  of 
the  Church  in  modern  society, —  the  minis- 
try of  spiritual  authority  and  the  ministry 
of  human  sympathy.  Modern  society  as  re- 
lated to  the  Church  is  peculiar  only  in  the 
fact  that  its  demands  are  very  exacting  at 
these  two  points.  Not  many  things  are  de- 
manded of  the  Church  to-day.  Probably 
there  was  never  a  period  in  which  fewer 
obligations  were  imposed  upon  it,  or  when 
its  advice  was  less  frequently  sought  on 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

matters  of  current  interest  and  concern. 
But  in  view  of  the  intellectual  and  social 
confusion  of  the  present  times,  which  we 
call  modern  in  other  respects  than  in  re- 
gard to  time,  the  original  and  normal  claims 
upon  the  Church  for  authority  and  for  sym- 
pathy have  been  greatly  intensified.  The 
demand  for  sympathy  seems  to  be  greater 
than  the  demand  for  authority.  Society  ap- 
pears to  be  more  concerned  about  the  re- 
lation of  man  to  man  than  about  the  rela- 
tion of  the  individual  man  to  his  God,  or  to 
his  own  soul.  It  is  doubtful,  however,  if  this 
appearance  altogether  expresses  the  under- 
lying reality.  The  cry  for  bread  is  always 
startling,  never  more  so  than  in  days  of 
wasteful  plenty;  but  it  is  vain  to  assume 
that  those  who  have  bread  enough  and  to 
spare  are  otherwise  satisfied.  The  voice  of 
such  as  are  "striving  to  reach  forward  to 
the  new  light  of  the  intellect,  while  not 
relinquishing  the  ancient  loyalties  of  the 


INTRODUCTORY 

heart,"'  is  often  heard  in  unexpected  places, 
implying  wherever  heard  "the  tragic  ele- 
ment of  suffering."  But  the  claims  upon 
the  Church  for  spiritual  authority  and  for 
human  sympathy  are  alike  so  constant  and 
so  pressing,  and  they  are  in  reality  so  closely 
related,  that  the  Church  can  at  no  time  allow 
these  essential  and  mutually  supporting 
ministries  to  decline  or  to  be  separated. 
The  history  of  the  Church  proves  by  too 
frequent  illustration  how  empty  a  thing  is 
authority  without  sympathy,  and  how  weak 
a  thing  is  sympathy  without  authority. 

It  is  the  office  of  this  brief  essay  to  urge 
upon  the  Church  the  resumption  of  that 
spiritual  authority,  which  has  been  in  meas- 
ure suspended  during  the  recent  period  of 
theological  reconstruction,  and  to  urge  no 
less  the  return  to  that  sympathetic  concern 
in  human  interests,  that  fellow  feeling  with 
men,  the  absence  of  which  at  certain  points 

*  Letters  to  His  Holiness  Pope  Pius  X.,  Preface,  p.  XV. 

3 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

has  caused  much  alienation  from  the  Church. 
Doubtless  the  Church  is  farther  on  its  way 
toward  regaining  spiritual  authority  than  it 
is  toward  recovering  the  alienated  classes. 
The  process  of  theological  investigation, 
criticism,  and  reconstruction  made  possible, 
as  well  as  necessary,  by  the  growth  of  the 
scientific  spirit,  has  been  going  on  for  nearly 
a  generation.  But  it  is  a  question  if  the 
Church  has  as  yet  begun  to  understand  and 
appreciate  the  religious  significance  of  the 
problems  involved  in  the  economic  changes 
which  have  been  taking  place  within  the 
same  period,  but  more  manifestly  within 
the  past  decade.  ^ 


THE  MINISTRY    OF  SPIRITUAL  AUTHORITY 

In  discussing  this  aspect  of  our  subject 
reference  will  be  made  altogether  to  the 
churches  of  the  Protestant  faith,  and  chiefly, 
for  local  reasons,  to  the  churches  of  this 
country.  The  place  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  in  modern  society,  especially  in  this 
country,  calls  for  very  definite  recognition, 
but  the  discussion  of  its  authority  is  foreign 
to  our  purpose  except  as  an  aid  in  setting 
forth  the  authority  of  Protestantism.  In  this 
regard  it  is  becoming  more  and  more  neces- 
sary to  the  understanding  of  Protestantism 
to  understand  Catholicism.  To  the  average 
Protestant,  the  authority  of  the  Papacy  has 
no  logical  place  in  modern  society.  It  seems  to 
be  an  intellectual  anachronism.  But  the  fact 
that  it  is  maintaining  and  enlarging  its  place 

5 


■\y\^*0m  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

in  the  most  modern  of  the  nations  is  a  fact 
too  evident  to  be  denied,  and  therefore  a 
fact  which  ought  to  be  understood. 

Allowing  that  the  growth  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  in  America  is  chiefly  due 
to  immigration,  its  growth  is  the  more 
striking  as  an  example  of  the  holding  power 
of  Catholicism  under  modern  conditions. 
Of  course  the  explanation  lies  in  the  distinc- 
tion which  Catholicism  draws,  and  which  it 
seems  to  be  able  to  maintain,  between  mod- 
ern thought  and  "modernism"  —  modern 
thought  becoming  "modernism  "  only  as  it 
invades  the  realm  of  dogmatic  religion.  The 
devout  Catholic  may  be  modern  in  politics, 
in  science,  and  in  literature,  provided  he 
does  not  thereby  become  a  "modernist." 
To  what  extent  the  spirit  of  "modernism," 
that  is,  the  desire  to  apply  historical  criti- 
cism or  any  applicable  form  of  scientific 
analysis  to  the  traditional  theology  of  the 
Church,  is  really  infecting  Catholicism,  it  is 
6 


MINISTRY  OF  SPIRITUAL  AUTHORITY 

impossible  to  determine.  The  "  modernists" 
of  Europe  complain  of  the  backwardness  of 
their  brethren  in  this  country.  This  back- 
wardness cannot  be  attributed  to  the  fact 
that  American  Catholics  are  untouched  by 
"the  liberties  and  knowledge  of  the  twen- 
tieth century."  More  likely  the  general 
freedom  of  thought  which  the  American 
Roman  Catholic  enjoys  serves  to  dull  rather 
than  to  quicken  his  desire  for  greater  free- 
dom in  his  religious  thinking.  The  funda- 
mental difference  between  an  intelligent 
Protestant  and  an  equally  intelligent  Catho- 
lic centres  around  the  actual  use  of  the 
right  of  private  judgment.  Each  uses  this 
right  in  his  own  way.  The  intelligent  Pro- 
testant uses  it  continuously,  never  for  a 
moment  surrendering  it  to  any  outward  au- 
thority. The  intelligent  Catholic  uses  it  once 
for  all  in  surrendering  it  to  the  authority  of 
the  Church.  This  act  of  surrendering  one's 
private  judgment  in  matters  of  faith  to  the 
7 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

judgment  of  the  Church  may  be  in  itself  a 
supreme  act  of  private  judgment,  earnest, 
protracted,  and  satisfying.  To  many  minds 
the  argument  for  such  a  surrender  is  per- 
suasive and  convincing.  "  Given  the  reve- 
lation of  God  in  Christianity,  what  more 
natural  than  that  this  revelation  should  be 
committed  to  the  Church :  and  if  thus  com- 
mitted, how  much  better  the  authorized 
judgment  of  the  Church  in  all  matters  of 
faith  than  the  judgment  of  the  individual: 
how  much  safer  the  investment  of  one's 
religious  belief  in  the  Church  than  if  held 
among  one's  private  securities." 

Doubtless  there  are  many  cases  in  which 
it  is  not  fully  understood  at  the  beginning 
just  how  much  this  acceptance  of  the  judg- 
ment of  the  Church  in  place  of  the  contin- 
uous use  of  private  judgment  really  means. 
Experience  alone  can  show  in  any  realizing 
sense  that  it  means  one  thing  and  one  thing 
only,  —  submission,  absolute  and  complete 
8 


MINISTRY  OF  SPIRITUAL  AUTHORITY 

submission.  The  language,  however,  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  is  perfectly  clear 
at  this  point,  whether  uttered  in  pastoral 
address  or  in  the  formal  definition  of  its 
authority.  "  My  brethren,"  says  Cardinal 
Mercier  in  his  Lenten  Pastoral  of  1908,  fol- 
lowing the  Papal  Encyclical  on  Modern- 
ism, "  we  have  here  merel}^  a  question  of 
honesty.  Yes  or  no  ?  Do  you  believe  in  the 
divine  authority  of  the  Church?  Do  you 
accept  exteriorly  and  interiorly  what  in  the 
name  of  Jesus  Christ  she  proposes  to  your 
belief  ?  Yes  or  no  ?  If  3^es,  then  she  puts 
the  sacraments  at  your  disposal  and  under- 
takes your  safe  conduct  to  heaven.  If  no, 
you  deliberately  break  the  bond  that  united 
you  to  her,  of  which  she  had  tied  and  blessed 
the  knot.  Before  God  and  your  conscience 
you  belong  to  her  no  more."  ' 

*  Lenten  Pastoral  of  Cardinal  Mercier,  Primate  of  Bel- 
gium, in  enforcement  of  the  Encyclical  Pascendi  of  Sep- 
tember 8,  1907,  on  Modernism  :  given  in  full  in  Mediceval- 
ism^  a  reply  to  Cardinal  Mercier  by  Father  Tyrrell. 

9 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

■-,  Compare  with  this  the  language  of  the 
Right  Reverend  Monsignor  Vaughan  in 
the  more  formal  definition  of  the  authority 
of  the  Papacy.  "  When  Peter  speaks  ex-ca- 
thedra he  speaks  with  the  infallible  author- 
ity conferred  on  him  by  God.  And  Peter 
still  lives  and  still  speaks  in  the  person  of 
his  successor.  What  he  binds  on  earth  is 
bound  in  heaven.  If  he  defines  a  doctrine 
—  let  us  say  the  immaculate  conception  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin  —  what  happens?  So 
soon  as  he  defines  it,  he  binds  it  upon  the 
consciences  of  all  Catholics.  They  are 
obliged  to  accept  it."'  Such  an  assertion 
and  acceptance  of  authority  can  be  under- 
stood by  a  Protestant  only  as  he  reminds 
himself  of  the  process  of  surrender  and  sub- 
mission which  these  assume.  More  than 
this,  he  must  also  remind  himself  of  that 
temper  and  disposition  of  mind  upon  which 

»  "The  Catholic  Church:  What  is  it?"  By  the  Right 
Reverend  Monsignor  Vaughan,  Rome.  Hibbert  Journal^ 
April,  1908. 

10 


MINISTRY  OF  SPIRITUAL  AUTHORITY 

a  religion  of  absolute  authority  is  based. 
Religions  of  this  order  endure  because  the 
type  of  mind  which  supports  them  persists. 
The  authority  of  the  Papacy  survived  Pro- 
testantism, though  under  the  conditions  of 
its  survival  it  lost  control  of  the  governing 
mind  of  the  world.  Another  conception  of 
religious  authority  took  control  of  the  peo- 
ples committed  thenceforth  to  the  defense 
and  extension  of  religious  liberty.  Protest- 
antism meant  more  historically,  and  far 
more  in  principle,  than  the  transfer  of  obe- 
dience from  an  infallible  Church  to  an  in- 
fallible Bible.  The  recent  biographer  of 
Karl  Marx,  in  explaining  the  conversion  of 
the  elder  Marx  from  Judaism  to  Christian- 
ity, says  that  "  he  seemed  to  have  looked 
upon  Protestantism  as  being  something 
more  than  the  intellectual  and  spiritual  pro- 
test of  religious  enthusiasts  against  dogma 
and  ecclesiastical  authority:  as  being  in  fact 
a  movement  for  intellectual  freedom  and 
II 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

general  progress." '  This  view  of  Protest- 
antism, though  partial,  is  not  superficial. 
Intense  as  were  the  religious  demands 
which  made  Protestantism  necessary,  and 
powerful  as  were  the  political  forces  which 
gave  it  so  wide  a  supremacy,  the  spirit  of 
Protestantism  was  closely  akin  to  that 
spirit  of  intellectual  freedom  which  gave  us 
democracy  and  modern  education.  The  ad- 
vance of  religious,  political,  and  educational 
liberty  has  been  in  the  main  an  advance 
through  comradeship.  Protestantism  has 
come  to  represent  preeminently  that  part 
of  organized  Christianity  which  lies  open 
to  the  mind  of  the  world,  and  which  feels 
most  sensitively  the  intellectual  progress  of 
the  world,  whether  the  sources  of  progress 
lie  within  or  without  Christianity.  It  does 
not  forbid  its  adherents  from  entering  with 
sympathetic  interest  into  that "  extra-Chris- 

*  John  Spargo :  Karl  Marx^  His  Life  and  Work^  PP-  23, 
24. 

12 


MINISTRY  OF   SPIRITUAL  AUTHORITY 

tian  world,"  in  which  Mr.  Huxley  used  to 
say  that  he  and  persons  of  like  interests 
spent  much  of  their  time  in  the  investigation 
of  subjects  which  were  "  neither  Christian 
nor  unchristian."  Protestantism  stands  com- 
mitted not  only  to  the  doctrine  of  the  right 
of  private  judgment,  but  also  to  the  general 
and  far-reaching  belief  that  religious  pro- 
gress is  dependent  upon  intellectual  free- 
dom in  matters  of  religion.  It  would  be 
cowardly  for  Protestants  to  deny  any  of  the 
legitimate  consequences  of  their  intellectual 
affiliations  or  of  their  sympathies  with  lib- 
erty. The  greatest  consequence,  as  they  be- 
lieve, is  religious  progress.  A  consequence 
which  is  quite  sure  to  appear  in  time  of  in- 
tellectual upheaval  and  confusion  is  a  cer- 
tain loss  of  spiritual  authority.  At  such 
times  authority  waits  in  part  upon  the  read- 
justment of  faith  to  the  larger  and  clearer 
knowledge. 

Without  question   the   churches  of  the 

13 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

Protestant  faith  have  been  passing  through 
a  period  of  serious  intellectual  disturbance, 
with  a  consequent  loss  of  authority.  The 
authority  which  rests  upon  experience  and 
upon  service  has  not  been  lessened.  But 
spiritual  authority  is  not  normal  and  com- 
plete when  it  lacks  the  full  indorsement  of 
the  mind  of  the  Church.  The  mind  of  the 
Protestant  Church  has  been  for  a  gener- 
ation in  a  state  of  inquiry  rather  than  of 
affirmation  at  certain  vital  points  of  faith. 
Most  immediate  in  its  bearings  upon  au- 
thority has  been  the  inquiry,  under  the 
application  of  the  principles  of  historical 
criticism,  into  the  doctrine  of  sacred  Scrip- 
ture. Less  immediate  in  its  bearings  upon 
authority,  but  in  some  respects  more  far- 
reaching,  has  been  the  inquiry  into  the 
method  of  the  divine  working,  including 
miracles,  considered  in  the  light  of  the  the- 
ory of  evolution.  And  very  influential  in  the 
way  of  reaction  upon  theological  opinion 


MINISTRY  OF  SPIRITUAL  AUTHORITY 

and  belief  has  been  the  closer  study  of  men 
under  the  conditions  of  modern  civilization, 
and  the  wider  and  more  intelligent  ac- 
quaintance with  the  human  race.  It  is  not 
too  much  to  say  that  the  conception  of  God, 
the  interpretation  of  the  person  and  work 
of  Jesus  Christ,  the  motive  of  missions,  have 
been  modified  by  the  more  intimate  know- 
ledge of  humanity. 

I  have  already  intimated  that  the  process 
looking  toward  the  reestablishment  of  the 
spiritual  authority  of  the  Church  is  well 
under  way.  As  I  proceed  to  consider  re- 
sults more  in  detail,  I  shall  insist  that  the 
process  is  so  far  advanced  that  the  Church 
is  now  justified  in  reasserting  its  spiritual  au- 
thority. It  would  indeed  be  a  happy  conclu- 
sion of  the  questionings,  searchings,  discus- 
sions, and  even  controversies  of  the  Church, 
if  the  generation  which  has  heard  all  these 
should  yet  hear  the  voice  of  the  Church  in 
some  compelling  reaffirmation  of  its  faith. 

IS 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

This  is  not  necessary.  If  need  be,  more  than 
one  generation  can  afford  to  spend  and  be 
spent  in  that  search  after  truth  which  can 
alone  give  reality  to  religion.  My  insist- 
ence, however,  is  that  the  intellectual  strug- 
gle through  which  the  Church  of  this  gen- 
eration has  been  passing  is  fast  nearing  its 
natural  and  legitimate  conclusion  in  the  re- 
assertion  of  spiritual  authority.  There  can 
be  no  severer  spiritual  discipline  than  that 
involved  in  the  search  after  truth.  There 
can  be  no  greater  relief  to  the  believing 
mind  than  that  which  comes  from  discard- 
ing errors,  however  essential  these  may 
have  seemed  to  be  to  faith.  There  can  be 
no  consciousness  of  spiritual  power  pos- 
sible to  the  Church  more  real  or  inspiring 
than  that  which  comes  through  the  testing 
of  its  intellectual  humility,  honesty,  and 
courage.  The  consciousness  of  the  Church 

—  this  is  the  supreme  fact  of  Protestantism 

—  is  the  chief  source  of  power  in  the  exer- 

i6 


MINISTRY  OF  SPIRITUAL  AUTHORITY 

cise  of  spiritual  authority.  External  proofs, 
which  are  accessible  to  all,  gain  their  mo- 
tive power  from  those  who  have  actually 
incorporated  them  into  faith.  The  sensi- 
tiveness of  the  world  to  the  vitality,  or  bet- 
ter the  freshness  of  this  faith,  cannot  be 
overestimated.  Whenever  the  intellectual 
faith  of  the  Church,  for  any  reason  what- 
ever, grows  stale,  the  external  evidences  of 
Christianit}^  have  little  authoritative  value 
among  men.  Whatever  the  process  may  be 
which  reinvigorates  the  faith  of  the  Church, 
by  that  same  process  the  evidences  of 
Christianity  are  brought  nearer  to  the  un- 
derstanding of  men  and  to  their  consciences. 
The  authority  of  Protestantism  cannot  reach 
far  beyond  the  assured  consciousness  of  the 
Church  in  matters  of  faith,  a  consciousness 
born  out  of  its  spiritual  experiences,  but  re- 
invigorated  from  time  to  time  as  it  passes 
under  the  tests  of  the  enlightened  reason. 
This  assurance   of   faith   may  be,  as  it 

17 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

doubtless  has  been,  of  the  same  degree  of 
power  in  all  believing  ages,  but  the  point 
of  belief  varies  like  the  point  of  view.  Be- 
lieving men  of  different  generations  see 
"  eye  to  eye,"  not  because  they  look  from 
the  same  point,  but  because  looking  from 
their  respective  points  of  vantage  they  dis- 
cover the  like  spiritual  realities.  Looking, 
for  example,  toward  Christ  from  the  needs 
and  aspirations  and  achievements  of  their 
differing  times,  they  alike  see  that  in  him 
which  is  "the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  yea 
and  forever."  It  is  of  the  very  genius  of  Pro- 
testantism to  take  advantage  of  the  natural 
approach  of  each  age  to  the  unchanging 
truth  in  Christianity.  Believing  that  God  is 
in  his  world  as  well  as  in  his  Church,  it 
does  not  hesitate  to  use  the  environment  of 
faith  in  the  interest  of  faith. 

What  are  the  gains  to  faith  from  the  more 
recent  changes  in  the  apprehension  of  re- 
ligious truth,  which,  as  they  are  appropriated 
i8 


MINISTRY   OF  SPIRITUAL  AUTHORITY 

by  the  Church,  ought  to  increase  the  con- 
sciousness of  its  spiritual  power,  and  give 
a  more  confident  assertion  of  its  spiritual 
authority? 

First  of  all,  Protestantism  now  has  in  hand 
a  Bible  which  it  can  hold  in  consistency 
with  its  own  well-defined  principles.  A 
Bible  exempted  from  the  tests  of  historical 
criticism  is  not  a  Protestant  Bible.  It  is  in- 
consistent to  the  last  degree  to  affirm  the 
right  of  private  judgment  in  respect  to  the 
interpretation  of  Scripture,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  deny  the  right  of  private  judgment 
in  respect  to  the  origin  and  historical  order 
of  the  Scriptures.  From  the  Protestant  point 
of  view  it  is  as  necessary  to  ask  what  the 
Bible  is,  and  how  it  came  to  be,  as  it  is  to 
ask  what  the  Bible  means.  It  is  as  reverent 
a  thing  to  reinvestigate  the  authenticity  of 
Scripture  in  any  of  its  parts  as  it  is  to  re- 
examine and  revise  the  text  of  Scripture. 
Indeed,  if  textual  criticism  is  justifiable, 
19 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

much    more    in   every   way   is    historical 
criticism. 

The  argument  against  the  examination 
into  the  origin  of  the  Bible,  because  such  an 
examination  tends  to  create  confusion  in  the 
minds  of  believers,  has  its  own  answer  in 
the  experience  of  Protestantism  regarding 
the  exercise  of  the  right  of  the  individual 
interpretation  of  Scripture.  What  are  the 
many  divisions  and  sub-divisions  of  Protest- 
antism, which  constantly  point  the  moral 
for  the  advocates  of  an  infallible  Papacy, 
but  the  outgrowth  of  the  different  interpre- 
tations of  Scripture,  or  the  over-emphasis, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  Papacy  itself,  upon  some 
one  text  of  Scripture  ?  As  Protestants  we 
believe  that  on  the  whole  the  liberty  of  pri- 
vate interpretation  has  been  profitable  to 
religion  in  spite  of  the  temporary  cost  to  the 
unity  of  the  Church.  The  temporary  cost, 
I  say,  for  it  is  a  most  significant  fact  that 
the  historical  criticism  of  the  Bible,  in  break- 


MINISTRY  OF  SPIRITUAL  AUTHORITY 

ing  down  the  literalism  of  denominational 
beliefs,  has  contributed  more  than  any  one 
cause  toward  the  recent  advance  in  Chris- 
tian unity.  A  Bible  set  free  from  the  last 
bondage  to  literalism,  no  longer  the  bulwark 
of  divisive  ecclesiastical  dogmas,  but  now 
become  the  simple  and  natural  vehicle  for 
the  supreme  revelation  of  God  to  men,  has 
already  begun  its  great  constructive  work 
in  the  Church,  of  which  the  chief  sign  is  the 
growing  concentration  of  faith  among  Chris- 
tian believers.  The  first  result  of  this  intel- 
lectual revival  of  Christianity  has  been  the 
apprehension  of  Christianity  in  its  whole- 
ness. It  has  brought  out  the  one  aim  and 
purpose  of  the  Bible  in  true  proportion. 
The  separating  tenets  of  the  sects  have  been 
relegated  to  their  proper  place.  The  belief 
which  makes  a  man  a  Christian  has  been 
magnified  above  any  or  all  beliefs  which 
make  him  this  or  that  kind  of  a  Christian. 
Here  lies  a  most  appreciable  gain  to  faith. 

21 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

The  new  conception  of  the  Bible  is  giving 
a  new  conception  of  Christianity,  larger, 
simpler,  and  more  unifying.  Incidentally, 
it  is  very  much  to  have  gained  a  Bible  which 
can  be  held  in  complete  harmony  with  the 
principles  of  Protestantism,  open  at  every 
point  to  fearless  but  reverent  inquiry;  but 
the  essential  gain  to  faith,  and  therefore  to 
the  spiritual  authority  of  the  Church,  lies  in 
the  change  of  emphasis  from  the  external 
to  the  internal  authority  of  the  Bible.  It  is 
the  spirit  of  the  Bible  reaching  complete  ex- 
pression in  the  person,  teachings,  work,  and 
sacrifice  of  Christ,  that  is  becoming  the  rule 
of  Christian  faith  and  practice,  displacing 
the  rule  of  that  literalism,  which,  by  giving 
equal  authority  to  all  parts  of  Scripture,  neu- 
tralized in  so  large  degree  the  authority  of 
Scripture  as  a  whole.  As  Dr.  George  A.  Gor- 
don has  recently  remarked  with  much  signi- 
ficance, "  When  Jesus  comes  into  history  a 
new  perspective  of  the  Bible  is  needed." 
a2 


MINISTRY   OF  SPIRITUAL  AUTHORITY 

Another  gain  to  faith,  contributing  per- 
haps more  directly  to  spiritual  authority,  is 
to  be  seen  in  the  growing  realization  of 
Christian  unity  throughout  Protestantism, 
and  even  throughout  Christendom.  For  the 
first  time  for  centuries  multitudes  of  Chris- 
tians, irrespective  of  any  local  designation, 
really  believe  and  feel  that  the  Church  is 
nothing  less,  to  borrov;r  the  inspiring  saying 
of  Erasmus,  than  "  the  congregation  of  all 
men  throughout  the  whole  world  who  agree 
in  the  fiaith  of  the  Gospel."  So  far  as  the 
sense  of  this  universal  fellowship  obtains, 
there  goes  with  it  the  consciousness  of  spir- 
itual power.  The  ordinary  speech  or  action 
of  the  individual  believer,  in  whom  this  new 
consciousness  is  dominant,  rises  into  the 
dignity  and  repose  of  spiritual  authority. 

There  is  an  authority,  far  greater  at  times, 

born  out  of  an  entirely  different  experience. 

The  individual,  standing,  so  far  as  he  knows, 

absolutely  alone,  conscious  only  of  his  iso- 

23 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

lation  in  his  testimony  to  some  compelling 
truth,  may  stand  for  the  highest  type  of  au- 
thority. Most  of  the  authoritative  move- 
ments of  the  Church  have  had  their  origin 
in  these  individual  and  isolated  experiences. 
Gradually  the  contagion  of  some  steadfast 
witness  to  an  unrecognized  truth  has  created 
a  witness-bearing  body  of  believers.  Many 
of  the  protesting  Christian  communions 
arose  in  this  way.  But  when  a  protesting 
truth  has  been  acknowledged,  and  has  found 
acceptance  according  to  its  value,  the  pro- 
test has  fulfilled  its  office.  It  then  becomes 
untimely  and  therefore  ineffective.  The 
spiritual  equivalent  of  the  protest  can  then 
be  found  only  in  a  deeper  and  more  vital 
grasp  upon  the  common  faith. 

Whatever  occasion  may  arise  in  the  im- 
mediate future  requiring  the  protest  in  the 
service  of  truth,  it  seems  to  be  clear  that 
spiritual  authority  now  lies,  not  in  the  iso- 
lated and  unacknowledged  truth  calling  for 
M 


MINISTRY  OF  SPIRITUAL  AUTHORITY 

witnesses,  but  in  the  fundamental  and  uni- 
versal truth  of  Christianity  to  be  appre- 
hended more  seriously  and  joyfully  under 
the  consenting  fellowship  of  "all  men 
throughout  the  whole  world  who  agree  in 
the  faith  of  the  Gospel.''  The  danger  of 
insincerity  and  formality  lies  to-day  in  the 
narrowness  of  dissent  or  in  the  pride  of  ar- 
rogant assumption.  Every  distinctive  body 
of  Christians  may  be  allowed  and  expected 
to  remain  loyal  to  its  own  traditions,  but  the 
grand  loyalty,  to  be  demanded  of  all  alike, 
is  loyalty  to  that  conception  of  Christianity 
which  can  be  realized  and  exemplified  only 
in  a  vital  Christian  unity. 

Reference  has  been  made  to  the  effect  of 
the  historical  criticism  of  the  Bible  in  break- 
ing down  the  barriers  which  have  been 
created  and  maintained  under  the  rule  of 
literalism.  Its  effect  in  this  regard  cannot 
be  overestimated.  But  criticism,  it  is  to  be 
remembered,  is  altogether  an  intellectual 

^5 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

process.  The  immediate  results  are  de- 
structive. Sometimes  the  process  seems  to 
be  over-destructive.  Doubtless  the  histori- 
cal criticism  of  the  Bible  seemed  at  first  to 
many  to  be  needlessly  destructive,  and  its 
results  too  far  negative.  The  positive  side 
of  its  work  appeared  later,  as  has  been  in- 
timated, in  opening  the  larger  view  from 
the  Scriptures  and  in  revealing  the  essen- 
tial truth  which  they  set  forth  in  right  pro- 
portion to  its  environment.  But  neither  the 
removal  of  barriers,  nor  the  enlargement 
of  view  caused  by  the  new  understanding 
of  the  Scriptures,  can  fully  explain  the  sud- 
den and  swift  tendencies  in  all  the  churches 
toward  unity.  The  "  flowing  together  "  of 
heretofore  separate  currents  of  religious  life 
is  the  most  striking  phenomenon  in  the  re- 
ligious world  of  to-day.  There  seems  to  be 
no  limit  to  the  practical  combinations  which 
are  being  effected  between  the  different  de- 
nominations. The  spirit  of  cooperation  is 
26 


MINISTRY   OF  SPIRITUAL  AUTHORITY 

becoming  the  dominant  spirit  in  the  conduct 
of  missions  at  home  and  abroad  —  more 
marked  even  abroad  than  at  home.  Very 
significant  in  this  respect  was  the  recent 
World  Missionary  Conference  at  Edin- 
burgh, made  up  of  twelve  hundred  delegates 
from  all  the  Protestant  missionary  bodies  in 
the  world,  speaking  and  working  in  perfect 
harmony  in  a  ten  days'  session,  and  conclud- 
ing with  the  appointment  of  a  Continuation 
Committee  to  carry  out  so  far  as  practical 
the  suggestions  of  the  Conference,  and  to 
prepare  at  the  fitting  time  for  another  like 
gathering.  "  Perhaps  the  greatest  and  most 
comprehensive  impression,"  said  Dr.  Arthur 
H.  Smith,  the  missionary  statesman  of  China, 
in reviewingthe Conference,  "was  the  open- 
ing and  steadily  expanding  vision  of  a  pos- 
sible reunited  Christendom  which  many  of 
us  have  perhaps  been  unconsciously  rele- 
gating to  the  spaces  of  eternity." 

The  sermon  of  Bishop  Brent  of  the  Phil- 
ay 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

ippines  in  Westminster  Abbey  soon  after 
the  meeting  at  Edinburgh  was  equally  sig- 
nificant as  giving  a  glimpse  of  the  unifying 
sentiment  which  is  at  work  in  the  Anglican 
Communion.  In  discussing  relative  spiritual 
values  from  the  perspective  of  missionary 
service  in  the  Philippines,  he  made  the  fol- 
lowing contrast:  "To  one  coming  as  I  do 
from  the  vast  Orient,  where  great  questions 
compel  our  whole  attention,  questions  which 
threaten  our  very  existence,  the  matter  of 
ritual  seems  a  very  subsidiary  affair.  There 
are  two  classes  of  people  in  the  world,  those 
who  gesticulate  and  those  who  do  not.  It 
is  largely  a  matter  of  temperament — those 
who  gesticulate  are  the  ritualists,  those  who 
do  not  are  the  non-ritualists.  The  subject 
is  unworthy  of  much  attention.  Fairness 
recognizes  that  the  City  of  God  is  a  city  of 
magnificent  distances.  Its  height  and  length 
and  breadth  are  the  same  —  limitless  ;  in  it 
are  great  extremes,  not  contradictory,  but 
28 


MINISTRY  OF  SPIRITUAL  AUTHORITY 

complementary.  He  who  lives  at  one  ex- 
treme reaches  his  largest  liberty  when  he 
can  visit  the  opposite  extreme  without  los- 
ing his  way.  If,  however,  he  goes  only  with 
abuse  on  his  lips  and  missiles  in  his  hand, 
in  God's  name  let  him  keep  to  his  own  cor- 
ner of  the  city.  It  is  not  safe  for  himself 
or  others  to  walk  abroad.  The  beauty  and 
proportion  of  the  city  are  spoiled  when  you 
narrow  its  boundaries.  It  is  of  the  essence 
of  unfairness  to  read  out  of  the  city  a  fellow 
citizen  because  he  lives  in  a  distant  street 
with  which  you  are  not  acquainted." 

It  may  seem  too  impracticable  a  matter 
for  notice  to  refer  to  the  incorporation  of 
the  "  Christian  Unity  Foundation,"  having 
for  its  ultimate  aim  the  formal  union  of  all 
Christians  throughout  the  world  —  of  the 
Protestant  Churches,  of  the  Roman  Catho- 
lic Church,  and  of  the  Greek  Church.  But 
who  knows  how  to  measure  those  yearnings 
and  anticipations  which  so  often  precede 
29 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

the  change  of  the  impossible  into  the  pos- 
sible? The  plain  fact  is  that  there  is  a 
growing  expectation  at  the  heart  of  Chris- 
tendom in  regard  to  the  unity  of  the  visible 
Church.  Formal  and  structural  unity  may 
not  be  desirable.  The  unity  of  mutual  re- 
cognition and  of  cooperation  between  all 
parts  of  the  Church  may  be  the  better  re- 
sult. But  the  end  sought  for  is  coming  to 
be  more  than  a  sentiment.  There  is  a  glow- 
ing belief,  rising  at  times  to  a  prophetic 
sense,  that  the  Church  has  arrived  in  the 
order  of  truth  at  the  understanding  and  de- 
claration of  the  truth  of  the  Kingdom  of 
God.  This  belief,  in  so  far  as  it  is  enter- 
tained, is  giving  to  the  Church  of  to-day  the 
consciousness  of  its  place  in  the  historic 
succession.  The  full  realization  of  this  be- 
lief would  give  the  Church  a  place  beside 
the  Church  of  the  Reformation,  or  of  any 
earlier  distinguishing  period.  For  the  ac- 
ceptance of  each  new  truth  in  the  divine 
30 


MINISTRY   OF  SPIRITUAL  AUTHORITY 

ordering  carries  with  it  the  exercise  of  the 
appropriate  Christian  virtue.  In  the  order 
of  the  great  Christian  virtues, — faith,  hope, 
and  love,  —  it  is  the  last  which  awaits  an 
exemplification  like  that  which  attended 
the  experience  of  hope  in  the  early  Church, 
or  the  experience  of  faith  in  the  Church  of 
the  Reformation. 

A  still  greater  gain  to  faith,  in  the  way 
of  spiritual  authority,  is  to  be  found  in  the 
more  intimate  relation  of  Christian  thought 
to  the  person  of  Christ.  In  referring  to  the 
present  relation  of  Christian  thought  to 
Christ  as  more  intimate,  I  do  not  affirm 
that  it  is  clearer  or  better  defined.  In  many 
respects  it  is  distinctly  less  clear  and  well 
defined.  The  more  modern  conception  of 
Christ  lacks  altogether  the  definiteness  of 
the  metaphysical  statements  in  regard  to  his 
person.  The  language  in  which  nearly  all 
modern  writers  on  the  person  of  Christ 
take  refuge  is  —  "  The  uniqueness  of  Jesus  " ; 

31 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

a  very  indefinite,  and  for  any  of  the  really 
defining  uses  of  speech  a  most  unsatisfac- 
tory term.  But  in  the  very  indefiniteness  of 
the  term,  as  it  has  come  into  common  use, 
one  may  detect  the  present  effort  of  faith 
to  detach  the  thought  of  Christ  from  the 
formal  and  rigid  abstractions  of  the  early 
creeds,  and  to  make  him  more  accessible 
to  those  who  would  think  of  him  in  per- 
sonal terms,  each  in  his  own  way  and  ac- 
cording to  his  own  desires.  No  one  who 
compares  the  synoptic  gospels  with  the 
Pauline  epistles  can  deny  the  Christian  lib- 
erty of  idealizing  the  person  of  Jesus.  In- 
spired though  the  idealization  of  Paul  may 
have  been,  it  is  none  the  less  the  expression 
of  his  own  personal  need,  trust,  love,  and 
devotion,  —  in  fact,  it  covers  the  whole 
range  of  his  quickened  imagination  and 
emotions.  The  greater  Christian  souls  in 
succeeding  ages  have  taken  the  like  liberty. 
Each  of  the  more  vital  Christian  ages  has 
32 


MINISTRY  OF  SPIRITUAL  AUTHORITY 

had  in  a  very  real  sense  its  own  Christ. 
Some  have  tried  to  put  their  Christ  into 
their  creeds,  others  into  their  prayers  and 
hymns.  Whatever  has  seemed  most  true, 
most  necessary,  most  to  be  believed  in,  or 
to  be  hoped  for,  in  God,  most  to  be  longed 
after  and  striven  for  by  man,  has  been,  ac- 
cording to  the  varying  spiritual  standards 
of  the  time,  set  forth  in  the  vision  of  Christ. 
The  vision  may  at  times  have  been  dis- 
torted, but  it  has  always  reflected  the  best 
there  was  at  every  time  in  the  struggles  and 
hopes  of  humanity. 

According  to  this  liberty  of  idealization 
as  applied  to  the  person  of  Christ,  much  of 
the  present  thought  about  him  is  employed 
in  the  transfiguration  of  his  humanity.  To 
many,  standing  in  this  transfigured  presence, 
the  lines  between  the  human  and  the  divine 
soften  and  fade  away.  The  perfect  human- 
ity of  Jesus  becomes  the  complete  expres- 
sion of  his  divinity.  To  such  minds  also  the 

33 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

humanity  of  Jesus  becomes  the  assurance 
and  the  guarantee  of  the  divine  in  man. 
Then  we,  too,  are  the  sons  of  God. 

In  interpreting  this  conception  of  Christ 
it  is  not  necessary  to  accept  its  limita- 
tions, or  to  adopt  the  logic  of  its  conclusion. 
Back  of  every  really  Christian  conception 
of  Christ  there  are  always  vast  reserves  of 
faith.  The  faith  of  our  age  draws,  far  more 
than  it  is  conscious  to  itself  of  drawing,  upon 
the  faith  of  all  the  ages.  I  have  listened  to 
sermons  on  the  human  Christ  couched  in 
the  language  of  reverent  homage  or  of  pas- 
sionate adoration,  as  if  inspired  by  the  the- 
ology of  the  Nicene  Creed,  or  by  the  mys- 
ticism of  the  mediaeval  church.  Logically 
the  premise  did  not  seem  to  carry  so  high 
a  conclusion.  When  Harnack  says,  as  re- 
ported by  Professor  Evans  in  the  "  Congre- 
gationalist"  of  September  3,  1910,  "If  we 
hold  fast  unconditionally  that  Jesus  was  a 
man,  it  remains  true  that  God  has  made  this 
34 


MINISTRY   OF  SPIRITUAL  AUTHORITY 

Jesus  Lord  and  Christ  for  mankind,  and 
that  faith  in  him  has  created  and  still  cre- 
ates sons  of  God,"  there  are  many  Christians 
who  would  prefer  to  read  the  title  to  their 
sonship  in  a  closer  relation  to  God.  An 
earlier  statement  of  Richard  H.  Hutton, 
then  editor  of  "  The  Spectator,"  is  in  this 
regard  more  assuring.  "  We  are  told  by  it 
(the  Incarnation)  something  of  God's  abso- 
lute and  essential  nature,  something  which 
does  not  merely  describe  what  he  is  to  us, 
but  what  He  is  in  Himself.  If  Christ  is  the 
eternal  son  of  God,  God  is  indeed  and  in 
essence  a  Father;  the  social  nature,  the 
spring  of  love,  is  of  the  very  essence  of  the 
eternal  being;  the  communication  of  his 
life,  the  reciprocation  of  his  affection  dates 
from  beyond  time,  belongs,  in  other  words, 
to  the  very  being  of  God."  .  .  .  [This  truth] 
"  is  first  proclaimed  to  us  to  save  us  from 
sin,  strengthen  us  in  frailty,  and  lift  us  above 
ourselves;  but  it  could  not  do  this  as  it  does, 

35 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

did  we  not  know  that  God  was,  and  his 
love  was,  and  his  fatherly  life  was,  apart 
from  man,  and  that  it  is  a  reality  infinitely 
deeper  and  vaster  than  the  existence  of  his 
human  children." '  We  are,  that  is,  sons  of 
God,  not  because  of  a  relation  of  fatherhood 
established  in  our  behalf,  but  because  the 
relation  always  existed  in  Him,  to  be  made 
known  to  us  by  Jesus  Christ,  by  whom  also 
it  was  to  be  made  available  for  us,  even  in 
our  sin. 

But  who  may  question  the  logic  of  devo- 
tion, or  measure  its  carrying  power  into  the 
regions  of  faith  ?  The  faith  in  Christ  which 
is  born  out  of  present  conditions  is  not  largely 
metaphysical,  much  less  controversial,  but 
rather  interpretative,  and  all  the  more  real 
because  unconsciously  interpretative  of  the 
feeling  of  humanity  toward  him.  It  is  the 
spontaneous  tribute  of  that  humanity  which 

*  Richard  Holt  Hutton,  The  Incarnation  and  Principles 
of  Evidence^  pp.  29,  37.    Pott  &  Amery.   (1871.) 

36 


MINISTRY  OF  SPIRITUAL  AUTHORITY 

has  been  created  in  and  through  him  dur- 
ing the  Christian  centuries.  If  humanity 
finds  itself  nearer  to  God,  so  that  the  deep- 
est sense  of  the  human  reaches  more  and 
more  into  the  consciousness  of  a  divine  ca- 
pacity, it  is  Christ  who  is  recognized  as  the 
inspirer  of  this  far-reaching  consciousness. 
Hence  the  ardor  and  glow  of  the  new  faith, 
and  above  all  its  contagious  loyalty.  Its  au- 
thority lies  not  in  definitions  of  the  nature 
of  Christ,  nor  in  logical  deductions  from  the 
Scriptures  concerning  his  person,  but  in  the 
interpretation  of  the  feelings  of  men  toward 
him,  their  desire  to  honor  him,  to  obey  him 
as  master,  to  follow  him  as  leader,  to  fight 
his  battles  with  unrighteousness  and  sin,  to 
take  part  in  the  establishment  of  his  king- 
dom on  the  earth. 

If  there  is  a  growing  insistence  upon  the 
humanity  of  Christ  in  the  practical  faith  of 
the  Church,  it  is  because  men  find  them- 
selves drawing  near  to  him  under  the  ur- 

37 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

gent  incentives  of  human  needs,  both  per- 
sonal and  social,  and  because  their  ideals  of 
service  have  no  satisfying  realization  short 
of  his  sacrifice.  And  if  in  like  manner  in- 
sistence is  placed  upon  the  humanity  of 
Christ  in  any  attempt  to  define  his  nature, 
to  reconstruct  the  doctrine  of  his  person,  it 
is  because  men  think  they  see  in  him  the 
perfect  oneness  of  the  human  and  the  di- 
vine. In  no  sense  is  the  conception  of  Christ 
most  characteristic  of  modern  thought  or 
faith,  a  revival,  either  by  intention  or  in 
spirit,  of  any  merely  humanistic  theories  of 
his  person  which  have  had  their  day  in  past 
theological  controversies.  That  view  of  him 
rather  has  been  fixed  upon  which  seems  to 
reveal  him  in  his  nearness  to  men,  which 
invites  intimacy  in  the  diviner  forms  of  ser- 
vice, and  which  best  accords  with  the  Chris- 
tian optimism  of  humanity  concerning  its 
own  future  on  the  earth.  Whatever  may 
prove  to  be  the  shortcomings  of  this  con- 

38 


MINISTRY  OF  SPIRITUAL  AUTHORITY 

ception  of  Christ,  these  are  not  to  be  found 
in  the  spirit  and  purpose  which  animate 
those  who  hold  it.  Its  spiritual  authority 
lies  in  the  sincerity  in  which  it  is  held,  and 
in  the  increasing  response  which  it  awakens 
among  all  who  have  at  heart  the  saving  of 
their  fellow  men. 

A  bold  exception  to  the  otherwise  univer- 
sal feeling  throughout  Christendom  toward 
Christ  must  be  noted  in  the  rising  cult  domi- 
nated by  the  philosophy  of  Nietzsche  and 
his  disciples.  Its  attack  upon  Christianity 
is  original,  in  that  it  is  an  attack  upon  hu- 
manity as  interpreted  by  modern  demo- 
cracy. Christianity  is  a  "curse"  because  it 
takes  sides  with  the  underpart  of  humanity. 
That  were  better  eliminated.  Sympathy, 
charity,  pity  are  obstructive  virtues  in  the 
progress  of  the  race.  The  average  man  de- 
lays the  coming  of  the  superman,  the  sur- 
vivor in  the  struggle  for  existence,  the  goal 
of  mankind.  The  Christ  of  humanity  is  the 
39 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH  . 

chief  hindrance  to  progress,  because  he 
haunts  the  world  with  the  idea  of  saving 
men,  and  so  burdens  the  race  with  the  mul- 
titude who,  for  the  final  result,  were  better 
unsaved.  This  is  an  absolutely  fair  attack 
upon  Christianity  and  logical  to  the  last  de- 
gree. It  reaches  to  the  heart  of  the  whole 
issue  in  which  the  future  of  Christianity  is 
involved,  passing  by  all  questions  about  the 
authenticity  of  its  sources,  all  questions  of 
Christian  theology,  all  questions  about  the 
person  of  Christ.  It  aims  at  the  spirit  of 
Christianity.  Its  contention  is  with  those 
who  believe  that  this  spirit  was  embodied 
in  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  and  who  in  his  name 
do  their  saving  work  in  humanity.  The 
various  tenets  of  the  Christian  faith  are  not 
matters  of  interest. 

It  is  refreshing  to  have  the  issues  con- 
cerning Christianity  thus  set  forth  and  de- 
fined. Here  is  the  real  issue.  The  defiance 
of  this  philosophy,  its  very  blasphemies  (in 
40 


MINISTRY   OF  SPIRITUAL  AUTHORITY 

the  ears  of  Christian  believers)  can  be  par- 
doned to  its  clearness,  directness,  and  cour- 
age. It  is  so  definite  and  practical  that  it 
can  be  understood  by  workingmen  at  their 
tasks  as  easily  as  by  the  "  intellectuals."  In- 
deed, it  is  the  basis  of  a  recent  discussion 
between  two  writers  on  the  staff  of  two  pop- 
ular newspapers — the  one  a  socialist,  the 
other  an  individualist.  The  philosophy  of 
Nietzsche  in  interpreting  itself  gives  the 
best  possible  interpretation  of  present-day 
Christianity.  It  sweeps  the  ground  of  minor 
issues,  and  makes  perfectly  clear  what  it 
now  means  to  be  "  with  "  Christ  or  "  against " 
him. 

A  further  gain  to  faith,  not  directly  as 
a  source  of  authority,  but  of  more  value 
as  vitalizing  the  religious  atmosphere,  is 
the  new  sense  of  the  reality  of  a  spiritual 
world.  The  reaction  from  materialism  has 
been  positive  as  well  as  negative.  The 
lesser  reaction  is  seen  in  disappointment, 
41 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

dissatisfaction,  and  disgust  with  its  moral 
results.  The  greater  reaction  is  beginning 
to  be  seen  in  a  revaluation  of  the  things  of 
the  spirit.  Another  psychology  on  deeper 
foundations  and  with  vastly  broader  range 
is  in  the  process  of  development.  It  is  not 
too  much  to  say  that  the  study  of  mental 
and  spiritual  phenomena  divides  the  field 
of  academic  interest  and  research  with  the 
study  of  physical  phenomena.  Physical  sci- 
ence itself  can  no  longer  be  quoted,  if  indeed 
it  has  ever  been  rightly  quoted,  in  support 
of  a  purely  materialistic  conception  of  the 
universe.  The  authority  of  the  senses  has 
been  strictly  delimited  to  the  field  within 
which  the  senses  can  act.  This  limitation 
of  the  range  of  the  senses  was  brought  out 
very  vividly  in  the  simile  introduced  by  Sir 
Oliver  Lodge  in  his  address  before  the  Brit- 
ish Association  at  its  recent  meeting  at 
Sheffield.  Materialist  man  was  his  simile; 
indeed,  all  men  in  a  greater  or  less  degree 
42 


MINISTRY    OF  SPIRITUAL  AUTHORITY 

might  be  compared  to  a  dog  in  a  picture 
gallery.  The  dog  lacked  the  power  to  see 
the  more  important  of  the  truths  presented 
to  his  eyes.  He  could  investigate  but  not 
appreciate  what  was  before  him.  "  It  was 
through  our  senses,"  said  the  speaker,  "  that 
we  became  aware  of  the  universe.  But  they 
also  limited  us  and  determined  the  kind  of 
information  that  we  received.  We  often  for- 
got that.  We  thought  we  saw  the  universe 
in  the  only  possible  way  it  could  be  known. 
If  we  had  other  senses  the  universe  would 
look  quite  different.  Our  senses  happened 
to  tell  us  about  matter.  Imagine  beings 
whose  senses  told  them  about  ether,  and  ig- 
nored matter.  Their  point  of  view  would  be 
quite  different,  and  their  statements  incon- 
sistent with  ours.  Yet  both  would  be  true 
as  far  as  they  went." 

Here  is  a  pretty  wide  and  clear  open- 
ing for  the   faith  of  the   mystics.    Keble 
does  not  venture  far  within  when  he  sings 
43 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

(with  the  change  of  but  a  word   in   his 
lines), — 

Two  worlds  are  ours  :  *t  is  only  (sense) 
Forbids  us  to  descry 
The  mystic  heaven  and  earth  within 
Plain  as  the  sea  and  sky. 

Much  of  the  best  philosophic  thought  in 
the  interpretation  of  spiritual  phenomena  is 
becoming  positive  and  far  reaching.  "  The 
world  interpreted  religiously,"  says  Wil- 
liam James,  "  is  not  the  materialistic  world 
over  again,  with  an  altered  expression  :  it 
must  have  over  and  above  the  altered  ex- 
pression a  natural  constitution  different  at 
some  point  from  that  which  a  materialistic 
world  would  have.  It  must  be  such  that  dif- 
ferent events  can  be  expected  in  it,  differ- 
ent conduct  must  be  required.  .  .  .  The 
whole  drift  of  my  education  goes  to  per- 
suade me  that  the  world  of  our  present  con- 
sciousness is  only  one  out  of  many  worlds 
of  consciousness  that  exist,  and  that  those 
44 


MINISTRY  OF  SPIRITUAL  AUTHORITY 

other  worlds  must  contain  experiences 
which  have  a  meaning  for  our  life  also: 
and  that  although  in  the  main  their  experi- 
ences and  those  of  this  world  keep  discrete, 
yet  the  two  become  contiguous  at  certain 
points,  and  higher  energies  filter  in.  By 
being  faithful  in  my  poor  measure  to  this 
one  belief,  I  seem  to  myself  to  keep  more 
sane  and  true.  I  can  of  course  put  myself 
into  the  sectarian  scientist's  attitude,  and 
imagine  vividly  that  the  world  of  sensations 
and  of  scientific  laws  and  objects  may  be  all. 
But  whenever  I  do  this,  I  hear  that  inward 
monitor  of  which  W.  K.  Clifford  once  wrote, 
whispering  the  word  'bosh'!  Assuredly 
the  real  world  is  of  a  different  temperament 
—  more  intricately  built  than  physical  sci- 
ence allows."  ' 

"The  world  interpreted  religiously  .  .  . 
must  be  such  that  different  events  can  be 

*  William  James,  The  Varieties  of  Religious  Experiences 
pp.  578-579. 

45 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

expected  in  it,  different  conduct  required." 
In  this  pregnant  sentence  lies  the  germ  of 
a  rational  belief  in  miracles.  The  religious 
interpretation  of  the  world  does  not  mean 
a  blind  resort  to  a  vague  supernaturalism. 
Who  can  measure  the  elasticity  of  nature? 
Who  will  dare  deny  room  for  the  natural 
operation  of  forces  which  elude  the  ordi- 
nary watch  of  the  senses  ?  Who  will  dare 
deny  the  natural  operation  of  hidden  forces 
which  may  at  times  come  out  into  the  open 
and  declare  themselves  to  the  senses? 
Doubtless  the  miracle  would  be  of  little  ad- 
vantage to-day  to  faith.  In  the  judgment  of 
Jesus  its  evidential  value,  even  in  his  time, 
was  of  secondary  account.  The  proof  of 
himself  was  in  himself.  "Believe  me  that  I 
am  in  the  Father  and  the  Father  in  me  —  or 
else  believe  me  for  the  very  works'  sake." 
But  he  did  not  hesitate  to  put  forth  "mighty 
works  "  when  that  kind  of  working  seemed 
the  more  intensely  natural  to  the  men  of  his 

46 


MINISTRY  OF  SPIRITUAL  AUTHORITY 

time,  and  therefore  more  convincing.  Be- 
cause "  our  senses  happen  to  tell  us  about 
matter"  more  acutely  than  has  ever  been 
the  case  in  the  experience  of  man,  shall  we 
make  their  specialized  use  in  this  direction 
the  test  of  any  past  or  future  action  to  which 
they  may  have  been  or  may  yet  be  trained? 
Are  we  commissioned  because  of  our  expert 
knowledge  of  matter  to  standardize  the  re- 
lation of  the  material  to  the  spiritual  world  ? 
Will  the  ages  of  greater  spiritual  enlighten- 
ment which  are  yet  to  come  acknowledge 
this  age  of  the  highest  known  material  de- 
velopment as  the  age  of  spiritual  authority? 
In  other  words,  is  this  the  age  to  settle  once 
for  all  the  question  of  miracles  ? 

These  questions  are  pertinent  to  our  dis- 
cussion, and  yet  in  asking  them  I  am  con- 
scious that  they  do  not  fairly  represent  the 
underlying  and  emerging  spirit  of  our  time. 
That  I  believe  to  be  rising  toward  the 
religious  interpretation  of  the  world.    It  is 

47 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

wonderful  how  quickly  and  how  efficiently 
the  spirit  in  man  asserts  itself  against  any 
and  all  materialistic  interpretations  of  the 
universe.  Man  has  never  allowed  any  usurp- 
ation of  his  place  in  the  order  of  the  world. 
Whether  after  the  manner  of  the  East  he 
withdraws  himself  from  matter,  when  it 
would  overcome  him,  holding  himself  su- 
perior and  apart,  or  after  the  manner  of  the 
West,  upon  every  accession  of  material 
force  he  straightway  proceeds  to  subju- 
gate and  control,  it  is  still  the  same  spirit 
asserting  itself  in  superiority  or  in  mastery. 
There  is,  however,  another  manifestation 
of  the  spirit  in  man  in  its  attitude  toward 
the  material  world,  quite  different  from  the 
contempt  of  the  East  or  the  utilitarianism 
of  the  West,  namely,  its  ability  to  make  it- 
self at  home  in  an  enlarging  physical  uni- 
verse. Something  of  this  appeared  when 
modern  astronomy  revealed  a  new  relation 
of  man  to  the  universe  of  space,  but  for  that 

48 


MINISTRY  OF  SPIRITUAL  AUTHORITY 

revelation  the  mind  of  man  had  been  reason- 
ably prepared.  Day  after  day,  and  night  after 
night,  he  had  been  apprised  of  other  worlds. 
The  theory  of  evolution  set  forth  a  new  re- 
lation of  man  to  the  universe  of  time.  This 
revelation  came  as  a  surprise  to  all,  and  as  a 
shock  to  many.  The  average  mind  had  not 
been  prepared  for  this  story  of  ages  upon 
ages  in  the  making  of  the  earth,  and  in  the 
development  of  life  upon  its  surface,  much 
less  for  the  tremendous  conclusions  drawn 
from  it  affecting  man  himself.  The  opening 
of  an  illimitable  past  in  the  life  of  the  earth 
was  a  far  more  appreciable  and  bewildering 
extension  of  man's  environment  than  any 
previous  enlargement  of  the  physical  uni- 
verse had  been.  It  seemed  to  let  the  human 
mind  into  the  inmost  secrets  of  the  working 
of  the  Almighty.  Nothing  in  the  vastness 
of  the  creative  plan  ever  produced  so  great 
a  moral  effect  as  the  new  knowledge  of  the 
minuteness,  the  orderliness,  the  infinite  pa- 
49 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

tience  involved  in  the  method  of  procedure 
in  the  development  of  life  on  the  earth.  Re- 
ligious thought  passed  through  the  succes- 
sive stages  of  confusion,  antagonism,  and 
reflection  into  a  serious  investigation  of  the 
actual,  phenomena  of  life,  especially  of  the 
relation  of  the  spiritual  in  man  to  the  phy- 
sical; with  the  final  result,  already  inti- 
mated, of  the  assertion  of  man's  spiritual 
supremacy.  The  religious  mind  has  become 
naturalized  in  this  larger  world  of  time,  and 
finds  itself  more  at  home  in  it  than  it  could 
ever  have  hoped  to  be  in  the  universe  of 
space;  for  that  could  only  proclaim  the 
power  and  glory  of  a  transcendent  God, 
while  this  reveals  the  nearness,  the  patience, 
the  forethought  of  the  immanent  God. 

In  setting  forth  the  gains  to  Christian 
faith  from  the  present  intellectual  revival  in 
Christianity,  there  has  been  no  intimation 
that  these  gains  are  to  be  understood  as  re- 
constituting Christianity.   Christianity  has 

SO 


MINISTRY  OF  SPIRITUAL  AUTHORITY 

never  been  made  over  by  any  generation, 
not  even  by  that  which  gave  us  the  Re- 
formation. The  unchanging  truth  at  the 
heart  of  it  is  always  vastly  more  essential 
and  significant  than  any  of  those  changes  in 
the  apprehension  of  it  which  come  through 
the  necessary  readjustment  of  the  intel- 
lectual faith  of  the  Church  to  the  more  en- 
lightened reason.  Nothing  is  more  to  be 
deprecated  than  such  a  term  as  the  "  New 
Religion,"  when  reference  is  thereby  meant 
to  some  special  development  or  application 
of  Christianity.  Christianity  came  into  the 
world  once  for  all,  a  new  but  abiding  spir- 
itual power,  making  itself  known  through 
its  revelation  of  God  and  its  interpretation  of 
humanity,  and  making  itself  felt  through  its 
sacrificial  attitude  toward  the  human  race. 
The  spirit  of  Christianity  is  not  an  improv- 
able quality  judged  by  any  known  ethical  or 
spiritual  standards.  The  Church  has  not  yet 
realized,  in  faith  or  in  practice,  the  meaning 

51 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

of  its  revelation  of  God,  or  of  its  interpre- 
tation of  man.  We  have  learned  by  expe- 
riences, both  bitter  and  joyful,  through  our 
denial  of  it  and  through  our  acceptance  of 
it,  that  there  is  but  one  way  to  the  heart  of 
the  world,  —  the  way  of  the  cross. 

Neither  is  it  to  be  inferred  from  the  in- 
sistence which  has  been  placed  upon  the  re- 
sults of  the  intellectual  revival  in  Christian- 
ity that  these  results  will  have  a  sufficient 
outcome  and  expression  in  some  Christian 
Apologetic.  Such  an  outcome,  if  at  all  com- 
parable with  some  of  the  Apologies  of  other 
times,  would  indeed  be  welcome,  but  it  is 
not  necessary  and  would  not  in  itself  be  suf- 
ficient. The  larger  and  sufficient  outcome 
must  appear  in  spiritual  authority;  and  spir- 
itual authority  makes  its  appeal,  not  only  to 
the  reason,  but  to  the  whole  man.  Reason 
always  has  the  right  to  block  the  way  of  au- 
thority when  authority  becomes  unreason- 
able. It  would  be  a  sad  anomaly  if  truth 

52 


MINISTRY  OF  SPIRITUAL  AUTHORITY 

could  prevail  against  reason ;  prevail,  that  is, 
against  one  of  its  chosen  instruments.  On  the 
other  hand,  spiritual  truth  can  never  make 
headway  through  the  reason  alone.  Reason 
rightly  demands  satisfaction,  and  satisfaction 
includes  quickening  and  inspiration.  When 
this  high  end  has  been  accomplished,  reli- 
gion is  prepared  to  assert  its  authority  over 
the  conscience  and  the  emotions, —  the  two 
constants  in  the  moral  objective  of  Chris- 
tianity. When  once  Christianity  has  been 
set  free  (this  is  the  not  infrequent  intellect- 
ual task  of  faith)  from  the  bondage  of  liter- 
alism, from  the  narrowness  of  the  divisions 
and  sub-divisions  of  the  Church,  from  the 
unrealities  of  a  merely  traditional  belief,  and 
above  all,  from  the  benumbing  influence  of 
materialism  in  any  of  its  subtle  forms;  and 
when  once  the  Church  has  been  brought 
back  (this  also  is  the  intellectual  task  of 
faith)  to  the  clear  apprehension  of  the  un- 
changeable spirit  of  Christianity,  of  its  abid- 
53 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

ing  truth,  and  of  its  unalterable  method  — 
then  the  ministry  of  spiritual  authority  has 
free  exercise  among  men.  If  the  intellectual 
faith  of  the  Church,  or  better,  its  apprehen- 
sion of  Christianity,  is  clear,  convincing, 
satisfying,  stimulating  to  the  Church  itself 
and  really  Christianizing,  there  is  little  need 
of  reasoning  with  the  world.  The  world  is 
ready  at  any  time  for  the  application  of  real 
Christianity.  The  getting  ready,  so  far  as 
this  is  an  intellectual  process,  belongs  to 
the  Church  in  its  own  behalf,  far  more  than 
in  respect  to  the  world. 

The  authority  of  the  Church  has,  of 
course,  its  direct  and  immediate  objective 
in  the  conscience.  Nothing  vital  is  reached 
until  that  is  reached.  Authority  is  not  es- 
tablished until  it  is  established  in  the  moral 
sense.  Due  account  must  be  taken  of  the  fact 
that  the  moral  sense  of  men,  both  in  individ- 
uals and  in  communities,  is  constantly  under 
appeal  from  other  sources  than  the  Church, 
54 


MINISTRY  OF  SPIRITUAL  AUTHORITY 

and  quite  apart  from  the  incentives  or  sanc- 
tions of  religion.  There  are  times,  for  exam- 
ple, when  the  press  is  as  strenuous  in  its 
moral  appeals  as  the  pulpit,  but  with  this  dif- 
ference. The  press  is  for  the  most  part  im- 
personal, the  pulpit  is  altogether  personal. 
Personality  plays  an  important  part  in  moral 
appeal,  not  so  much  because  of  the  voice, 
and  eye,  and  presence  of  the  speaker,  as  be- 
cause of  the  opportunity  to  identify  and  ver- 
ify the  appeal.  Who  makes  the  appeal,  and 
in  whose  interest?  What  are  the  motives  ? 
A  journal  of  thoroughly  established  consist- 
ency, even  if  the  management  is  not  known 
personally,  may  have  great  moral  influence; 
but  if  there  is  a  suspicion  regarding  any 
journal  that  it  is  insincere,  or  "  interested," 
in  its  advocacy  of  a  moral  cause,  its  influ- 
ence is  next  to  naught.  It  is  not  simply  the 
question  of  what  is  said,  but  of  who  says  it. 
The  press  is  fast  coming  under  the  rule 
which  Aristotle  laid  down  for  the  orator,  — 

55 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

"Your  influence  over  your  hearers  will 
depend  upon  what  your  hearers  think  of 
you." 

The  far  greater  difference,  however,  be- 
tween the  moral  appeal  from  the  Church 
and  any  like  appeal  from  other  sources 
lies  in  the  fact  that  the  moral  objective  it- 
self is  really  different.  It  is  one  thing  to 
arouse  public  sentiment;  it  is  quite  another 
thing  to  awaken  the  personal  sense  of  sin, 
or  even  the  personal  sense  of  duty.  To  in- 
dividualize, if  need  be  to  isolate  the  con- 
science, to  bring  the  soul  into  the  presence 
of  God,  to  make  men  feel,  each  for  him- 
self, as  William  James  says  for  us  all,  that 
"we  and  God  have  business  with  each 
other,"  is  the  moral  prerogative  of  religion. 
It  is  only  from  within  the  Church  that  a 
Tertullian  can  say,  "  Soul,  stand  thou  forth 
in  the  midst.  I  summon  thee,  not  such  as 
when  found  in  the  schools,  trained  in  the 
libraries,  nurtured   in   the  academies  and 

56 


MINISTRY  OF  SPIRITUAL  AUTHORITY 

porches  of  Athens.  I  address  thee  as  sim- 
ple, such  as  they  have  who  have  nothing 
but  thee,  the  very  and  entire  thing  that  thou 
art  in  the  cross-roads,  in  the  public  squares, 
in  the  shops  of  the  artisans.  I  demand  of 
thee  those  truths  which  thou  hast  of  thyself 
carried  with  thee  into  man,  which  thou  hast 
learned  to  know  either  from  thyself  or  from 
the  author  of  thy  being."  ' 

It  is  a  fair  and  necessary  question  to  ask 
whether  we  have  not  reached  the  limit  in 
our  advance  toward  public  righteousness, 
without  the  support  of  a  corresponding  ad- 
vance in  personal  religion.  Why  so  frequent 
relapses  in  moral  reform  ?  Why  does  the  evil 
suppressed  at  one  point  find  vent  so  easily 
at  another  ?  Why  do  "  we  the  people  "  study 
so  carefully  the  evasion  of  the  laws  which 
we  enact,  or  neutralize  their  spirit  in  the 
keeping  of  them?  Why  does  the  conscience 
of  the  city  or  of  the  nation  apparently  de- 

*  Works  of  Tertullian,  De  Testimonio  Animae^  chapter  i, 

57 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

cline  in  sensitiveness  and  might  with  the 
increase  of  numbers  ?  These  are  questions 
which  have  no  answer  short  of  a  moral 
reckoning  with  ourselves  as  individuals,  as 
moral  units  in  the  community,  or  corpora- 
tion, or  state.  It  is  doubtful  if  the  Church 
ever  had  a  more  open  or  acknowledged 
opportunity  for  the  assertion  of  moral  au- 
thority, or  for  a  more  direct  advance  toward 
its  moral  objective  in  the  consciences  of 
men.  If  the  Church  can  once  again  teach 
men  how  to  repent,  the  nation  will  evidently 
enough  reap  the  fruits  of  their  repentance. 
Public  corruption  will  visibly  diminish,  as 
men,  semi-righteous  men,  withdraw  from  it 
the  support  of  their  personal  cooperation 
or  indifference.  Who  doubts  for  a  moment 
that  if  the  membership  of  the  Church  of 
Christ  in  this  country  were  seriously  and 
sensitively  honest,  our  cities  and  the  nation 
itself  would  be  at  least  safe  from  corrup- 
tion ?  All  honor  to  the  men  who  are  fight- 

58 


MINISTRY  OF  SPIRITUAL  AUTHORITY 

ing  the  battles  of  righteousness  from  within 
or  from  without  the  Church.  But  after  all, 
so  far  as  the  Church  is  concerned,  is  it  the 
Church  militant  which  can  do  the  present 
business  quite  so  thoroughly  as  the  Church 
uncorruptible,  undefiled,  "  unspotted  from 
the  world"? 

Concerning  the  other  constant,  to  which 
I  have  referred  as  the  moral  objective  of 
the  Church  in  the  exercise  of  its  spiritual 
authority,  namely,  the  emotions,  we  cannot 
remind  ourselves  too  often  or  too  urgently 
that  the  truths  of  Christianity  were  de- 
signed to  be  felt.  Christianity  is  written  in 
the  language  of  the  great  emotions.  It  is 
the  story  of  the  forgiveness,  compassion, 
patience,  and  sacrificial  love  of  God  finding 
response  in  the  gratitude,  devotion,  trust, 
and  sacrificial  love  of  the  human  heart. 
The  generations  which  have  not  been  pro- 
foundly moved  by  the  distinctive  Christian 
truths  have  not  been  profoundly  Christian. 
59 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

The  greatest  danger  to  Christianity,  espe- 
cially in  times  of  intellectual  awakening,  is 
that  it  may  become  what  Dr.  Jowett  calls 
a  "  dry  religion."  As  against  such  a  dan- 
ger the  risks  from  the  more  emotional  faiths 
are  hardly  worthy  of  mention.  The  almost 
inevitable  tendency  of  a  religion  untouched 
by  emotion  is  toward  complacency,  —  com- 
placency in  respect  to  the  conventional 
virtues,  or  in  respect  to  good  deeds  of  dif- 
ferent sorts,  or  in  respect  to  superiority  in 
matters  of  belief.  It  is  hard  to  reach  a  true 
and  abiding  humility  except  through  the 
deeper  experiences  of  the  soul. 

The  evangelical  note  is  never  absent  from 
the  real  message  of  Christianity.  Christian- 
ity always  wants  to  be  a  gospel.  It  seeks  to 
"  find  "  every  man  in  his  need.  Very  few 
sail  over  the  many  depths  of  life  without 
going  down  into  some  of  them  —  the  depth 
of  loneliness,  of  temptation,  of  disappoint- 
ment, of  moral  weakness,  of  the  sense  of 
60 


MINISTRY  OF  SPIRITUAL  AUTHORITY 

sin.  These  escaped,  there  remains  to  every 
man  the  inevitable  catastrophe.  From  the 
first  struggle  of  the  soul  with  things  which 
are  to  be  resisted  to  the  final  surrender  to 
the  inevitable,  man  needs  God,  and  he  may 
at  any  moment  be  apprised  of  the  fact. 
Christianity  is  not  simply  a  religion  for 
moral  and  spiritual  emergencies;  but  if  it 
were  not  that,  always  that,  and  known  to 
be  such,  it  would  be  too  scant  and  weak  a 
religion  for  the  human  race. 

The  contagious  element  in  religion  lies 
in  the  emotions.  When  religion  is  not  con- 
tagious it  is  not  thoroughly  at  work.  In  the 
spiritual  world  the  terms  of  the  physical 
life  may  be  reversed.  Contagion  is  the  sign 
of  health.  Religion  is  in  a  normal  stage  in 
any  community  when  it  is  in  the  contagious 
stage.  Its  vitality  is  greatest  when  it  over- 
leaps all  obstructions,  and  spreads  its  "sav- 
ing health"  among  the  nations.  The  su- 
preme test  of  the  vitality  of  the  Church,  the 
6i 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

supreme  measure  of  its  spiritual  authority,  is 
found  in  its  missionary  attitude.  In  its  deep- 
est and  broadest  sense  the  missionary  atti- 
tude is  an  emotional  attitude.  Every  man 
knows  the  meaning  of  the  love  oy the  world. 
That  he  knows  is  a  matter  of  the  heart. 
I^ove  jTor  the  world  has  no  meaning  that  is 
not  in  like  manner,  and  to  a  like  degree,  a 
matter  of  the  heart.  In  the  exercise  of  its 
spiritual  authority,  the  projective  and  carry- 
ing power  of  the  Church  lies  largely  in  the 
depth  and  breadth  of  its  emotional  faith.  So 
Christianity  began  to  spread,  and  so  it  has 
continued  to  spread.  The  faith  of  Paul  has 
been  the  missionary  faith  of  the  Church, 
and  his  faith  was  "  logic  on  fire." 


II 

THE  MINISTRY  OF  HUMAN  SYMPATHY 

The  ministry  of  spiritual  authority  is 
based  upon  the  apprehension  of  truth.  The 
ministry  of  human  sympathy  is  based  upon 
the  fellow-feeling  with  men.  Modern  so- 
ciety presents  certain  alienating  conditions 
under  which  this  ministry  of  the  Church 
must  be  exercised.  These  are  of  various 
kinds,  as  will  appear  incidentally  in  the 
course  of  the  discussion.  The  most  serious 
alienating  condition,  however,  is  one  which 
the  Church  itself  has  created.  The  Church  of 
a  great  democracy  has  not  kept  pace  with 
the  growth  of  the  democratic  spirit.  Natu- 
rally this  condition,  because  the  Church  has 
created  it,  calls  for  the  especial  attention  of 
the  Church.  It  makes  it  the  matter  of  first 
concern  in  the  interest  of  religion  that  the 

63 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

Church  shall  recover  that  contact  with  the 
life  about  it,  which  it  has  lost  to  its  own  hurt 
and  to  the  hurt  of  religion. 

The  Christian  term  for  contact  is  sym- 
pathy. Sympathy  is  not  pity  and  it  is  more 
than  charity.  It  is  the  most  concrete  and 
sensitive  expression  of  both  love  and  justice. 
The  kind  of  consideration  which  it  demands 
of  one  man  in  behalf  of  another  is  expressed 
in  the  personal  word, — "  Put  yourself  in  his 
place."  It  is  by  far  the  most  difficult  of  at- 
tainment of  all  the  outgoing  Christian  vir- 
tues. Pity  is  almost  spontaneous,  and  char- 
ity in  some  form  and  within  limits  is  easily 
cultivated.  But  sympathy  becomes  a  hard 
and  reluctant  virtue,  as  any  one  can  dis- 
cover for  himself,  when  human  demands 
rise  above  pity  or  charity.  It  is  easy  to  feel 
for,  and  to  act  for  the  man  who  is  down  :  it 
is  hard  to  feel  with  the  man  who  is  coming 
up,  especially  if  he  has  nearly  reached  one's 
own  level.  Democracy  assumes  the  con- 

64 


MINISTRY  OF  HUMAN  SYMPATHY 

stant  and  willing  exercise  of  sympathy,  sym- 
pathy for  the  rising  man  or  the  rising  class. 
The  poor,  the  weak,  the  unaspiring  are  not 
necessarily  any  better  off  under  a  demo- 
cracy than  under  any  other  civilized  form  of 
society  or  government.  Pity  and  charity  can 
do  their  work,  leaving  the  ordinary  social 
classifications  undisturbed.  But  when  the 
ambition  to  rise  begins  to  take  effect,  and 
social  discontent  becomes  widespread,  and 
organized  efforts  are  made  to  advance,  then 
the  demand  is  for  sympathy.  If  this  demand 
is  not  met  promptly  and  willingly,  the  re- 
sult is  alienation,  and  the  creation  of  a  class 
or  classes  from  below  rather  than  from 
above. 

The  present  social  fact  of  most  religious 
significance  is  the  rise  of  the  workingman 
and  his  alienation  from  the  Church.  Indeed, 
the  rise  of  the  workingman,  the  organiza- 
tion of  workingmen  into  a  class,  and  the 
solidarity  of  the  upward  movement;,  con- 

6s 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

stitute  the  most  important  social,  and  per- 
haps political  phenomenon  of  the  present 
day.  We  are  now  concerned  with  the  move- 
ment religiously,  for  it  has  become  to  some 
a  religion,  and  to  many  a  substitute  for 
religion.  All  workingmen  are  by  no  means 
socialists.  Trade  unionism,  as  originally  de- 
vised and  as  now  generally  interpreted,  is 
anti-socialistic  in  its  economic  principles. 
But  most  workingmen  are  in  sympathy  with 
socialism  in  its  social,  and  ethical,  and  semi- 
religious  aims.  In  so  far  as  socialism  offers 
itself  as  a  substitute  for  the  religion  of  the 
Church,  it  has  their  sympathy  if  not  their  ad- 
herence. In  so  far  therefore  as  socialism,  in 
offering  itself  to  workingmen  as  a  substitute 
for  the  religion  of  the  Church,  wins  their 
sympathy,  it  ought  to  receive  the  careful 
attention  and  study  of  the  Church.  Far  too 
little  thought  of  any  discriminating  kind  is 
given  by  the  Church  to  the  religious  aspects 
of  socialism,  as  may  be  seen  by  noting  two 

ee 


MINISTRY  OF  HUMAN  SYMPATHY 

very  common  fallacies  in  the  general  rea- 
soning on  this  subject. 

One  fallacy  lurks  in  such  reasoning  as 
this:  socialism  is  an  economic  system;  as 
such  it  is  impracticable;  therefore  it  can 
have  no  large  influence  religiously. 

Socialism  is  an  economic  system.  It 
means  a  definite  and  complete  replacement 
of  any  and  all  existing  economic  systems. 
It  stands  for  the  substitution  of  public  for 
private  ownership  in  the  means  of  produc- 
tion. The  economic  definition  of  socialism 
which  has  received  unquestioned  accept- 
ance is  as  follows:  "To  replace  the  system 
of  private  capital  by  a  system  of  collective 
capital,  that  is,  by  a  method  of  production 
which  would  introduce  a  unified  organiza- 
tion of  national  labor  on  the  basis  of  collect- 
ive or  common  ownership  of  the  means  of 
production  by  all  the  members  of  society. 
This  collective  method  of  production  would 
remove  the  present  competitive  system,  by 

67 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

placing  under  official  administration  such 
departments  of  production  as  can  be  man- 
aged collectively,  as  well  as  the  distribution 
among  all  of  the  common  produce  of  all, 
according  to  the  amount  and  social  utility 
of  the  productive  labor  of  each."  '  The  So- 
cialist Party  National  Platform  (Chicago, 
May,  1908)  declares  —  "The  private  own- 
ership of  the  land  and  means  of  production 
used  for  exploitation  is  the  rock  upon  which 
class  rule  is  built:  political  government  is 
its  indispensable  instrument.  The  wage- 
workers  cannot  be  freed  from  exploitation 
without  conquering  the  political  power  and 
substituting  collective  for  private  ownership 
of  the  land  and  means  of  production  used 
for  exploitation." ' 

Government  control  over  certain  public 
utilities,  or  government  ownership  of  them, 

*  Dr.  A.  Schaffle,   T/te  Quintessence  of  Socialism^  pp.  3, 
4,  3d  English  and  8th  German  editions. 

*  Cited  in  Twentietk  Century  Socialism^  Edmund  Kelly, 
p.  416  (Appendix), 

68 


MINISTRY  OF  HUMAN  SYMPATHY 

so  far  as  it  has  been  attempted,  stops  far 
short  of  socialism.  The  control  or  owner- 
ship, for  example,  of  the  means  of  transport- 
ation is  a  very  different  thing  from  the  direc- 
tion or  ownership  of  all  the  means  of  pro- 
ductive industry.  The  productive  industries 
are  organized  under  the  initiative,  control, 
and  ownership  of  private  capital.  Socialism 
means  the  reversal  of  the  present  process. 
The  ethical  reason  for  socialism  is  given 
in  the  following  statement  of  the  theory: 
"  Summarily  we  may  describe  it  as  the 
doctrine  that,  whereas  the  means  of  pro- 
duction (capital,  with  land  and  raw  mate- 
rial) are  as  indispensable  to  every  man's 
existence  as  his  own  body,  society  should 
secure  for  all  its  members  an  equally  free 
access  to  them,  by  disallowing  private  pro- 
perty in  them.  Private  property,  as  it  exists, 
exists  solely  in  virtue  of  social  action,  and 
the  motive  for  that  action  is  social  utility. 
Its  aim  is  to  secure  for  the  producer  the 

69 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

means  of  production,  so  that  he  who  will 
work  may  work  out  his  own  salvation. 
Socialists  believe  this  aim  to  be  unrealized, 
owing  to  the  tendency  of  capital  to  con- 
centration. This  tendency  divides  society 
into  two  classes,  —  a  diminishing  class  who 
have  capital  and  can  work  on  their  own  ac- 
count, and  an  increasing  class  who  have 
not,  but  must  sell  their  services^  capitalists 
and  "proletarians."' 

The  economic  argument  for  socialism 
(collectivism)  is  based  upon  the  tendency 
of  the  present  competitive  system  to  over- 
production. Production  stimulated  by  com- 
petition, multiplied  indefinitely  by  machin- 
ery and  by  the  exploitation  of  labor,  creates 
a  surplus  of  goods  constantly  demanding 
new  markets,  a  demand  which  can  be  met 
only  by  commercial  expansion ;  which  means 
commercial  wars,  the  support  of  great  navies, 

*  R.  C.  K.  Ensor,  Modern  Socialism  as  set  forth  by  Social- 
ists^ 2d  edition,  pp.  xxvii,  xxviii. 
70 


MINISTRY  OF  HUMAN  SYMPATHY 

and  increased  taxation  —  all  of  which  re- 
sults in  the  enrichment  of  the  few  at  the 
expense  of  labor.  The  remedy  for  over-pro- 
duction is  the  regulation  of  the  product  ac- 
cording to  the  wants  of  those  who  produce 
it,  the  assignment  of  work  to  each  producer, 
and  the  distribution  of  the  product  in  ratio  to 
the  determined  value  of  the  work  rendered. 
The  practicability  of  the  socialistic 
scheme  is  utterly  denied  by  the  average 
business  man,  as  by  most  students  of  eco- 
nomics. Many  of  the  evils  complained  of 
under  the  present  system  are  admitted,  but 
the  remedy  proposed  by  collectivism  is  re- 
jected, on  the  ground  that  the  abolition  of 
free  competition  would  take  away  the  chief 
initiative  from  business,  reducing  in  time 
the  quality  of  the  product,  flattening  pro- 
duction to  the  level  of  unstimulated  wants; 
on  the  ground  that  assigned  labor  would 
become  enforced  labor,  introducing  a  new 
and  arbitrary  type  of  bondage;  and  on  the 
71 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

further  ground  that  the  scheme  would  break 
down  in  administration,  owing  to  the  im- 
possibility of  providing  through  the  State  a 
sufficient  number  of  competent  administra- 
tors free  from  the  taint  of  personal  ambition. 
To  the  ordinary  business  mind  the  ap- 
parent impracticability  of  collectivism  set- 
tles the  whole  question.  But  not  so  to  the 
mind  of  the  socialist.  At  the  point  of  as- 
sumed impracticability  he  takes  up  the  ar- 
gument and  urges  it  with  the  ardor  of  reli- 
gious faith.  The  characteristic  of  religious 
faith  is  that  it  is  not  daunted  by  the  seem- 
ingly impracticable.  It  looks  forward  to 
new  conditions  which  it  expects  to  create, 
under  which  the  impracticable,  if  right, 
will  become  practicable.  So  the  socialist 
strengthens  the  argument  in  his  own  mind, 
if  that  be  necessary,  by  the  infusion  of 
faith.  To  understand  socialism  one  must 
go  beyond  the  argument  for  it  to  the  faith 
of  the  socialist.    "  The  typical  socialist  of 

72 


MINISTRY  OF  HUMAN  SYMPATHY 

Germany,  France,  England,  and  America, 
the  man  or  woman  who  gives  his  or  her  en- 
ergies to  educating  and  organizing  and  dis- 
ciplining the  wonderful  world-wide  army, 
ever  growing,  ever  marching  forward,  un- 
dismayed by  defeat,  sure  of  ultimate  vic- 
tory, already  thirty  millions  strong  —  the 
largest  army  under  a  single  banner  the 
world  has  ever  seen — this  typical  worka- 
day, militant  socialist  does  not  look  upon 
himself  or  herself  as  a  patent  medicine 
vender,  but  as  a  John  the  Baptist  proclaim- 
ing with  no  uncertain  sound  the  advent  of 
a  New  Order.  Such  an  army  inspired  by  a 
common  faith,  even  though  the  faith  be  a 
delusion,  animated  by  a  common  purpose, 
even  though  the  purpose  be  incapable  of 
realization,  is  a  force  that  you  as  a  practi- 
cal man  must  reckon  with." '  Such  an  as- 

>  Men  vs.  the  Man :  a  Correspondence  between  Robert 
Rives  La  Monte,  Socialist,  and  H.  L.  Mencken,  Individual- 
ist, p.  3.   Henry  Holt  &  Co. 

75 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

sertion  of  the  socialistic  faith  shows  the  fal- 
lacy of  dismissing  socialism  as  a  negligible 
quantity  in  its  semi-religious  influence,  be- 
cause of  its  impracticability  as  an  economic 
system. 

Another  and  somewhat  like  fallacy  lies 
in  the  very  common  way  of  reasoning 
about  socialism  to  this  effect:  The  insist- 
ence of  socialism  is  upon  the  possession  of 
material  goods;  but  the  possession  of  ma- 
terial goods  is  not  the  aim  of  religion;  there- 
fore socialism  is  not  worthy  of  consider- 
ation in  its  religious  aspects.  The  reply  of 
the  socialist  to  this  reasoning  is  very  defi- 
nite and  concrete.  It  is  the  argumentum 
adkominem.  Material  good  may  not  be  the 
professed  aim  of  religion,  nor  its  possession 
the  chief  object  of  religious  endeavor,  but 
it  is  the  dominating  incident  in  the  religious 
life  of  to-day.  The  accumulated  wealth  of 
the  country  is  largely  in  the  hands  of  the 
membership  of  the  Church.  If  this  vast 
74 


MINISTRY  OF  HUMAN  SYMPATHY 

possession  of  material  good  has  no  value 
comparable  with  the  spiritual  possessions  of 
the  Church,  let  the  Church  make  this  fact 
clear  by  the  subordination  of  the  material  to 
the  spiritual,  —  by  renunciation,  self-denial, 
and  sacrifice.  If  the  possession  of  mate- 
rial good  is  fitly  incidental  to  the  religious 
life,  and  if  the  struggle  for  its  possession  is 
worthy  of  the  strenuous  effort  of  religious 
men,  then  let  the  Church  strive  to  learn  how 
to  share  it.  If  the  insistence  of  socialism 
upon  material  good  is  wrong,  the  reply  con- 
tinues, the  Church  ought  to  rebuke  this 
insistence  by  its  practical  indifference  to 
material  good.  To  the  degree  in  which  the 
Church  allows  the  struggle  for  wealth  the 
contention  of  socialism  is  justified,  that 
material  good  is  something  to  be  sought 
and  shared. 

In  this  reply  of  the  socialist,  though  it  be 
of  the  personal  sort,  one  can  see  the  fal- 
lacy of  overlooking  the  practical  behavior 

75 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

of  religious  men  in  dealing  with  the  very 
things  upon  which  other  men  have  equally 
set  their  hearts,  and,  as  they  believe,  for 
less  selfish  purposes.  When  a  socialist  says 
that  he  is  willing  to  share  his  goods,  or  that 
he  is  willing  to  submit  himself,  for  the  bene- 
fit of  others,  to  a  system  which  will  oblige 
him  to  share  his  goods,  he  has,  if  he  can  be 
taken  at  his  word,  the  equivalent  of  a  reli- 
gious motive,  if  indeed  it  be  not  actually  a 
religious  motive.  It  is  evident  that  the  way 
to  neutralize  the  teachings  of  socialism  is 
not  so  much  by  showing  its  economic  im- 
practicability, as  by  showing  the  moral 
practicability  of  the  present  economic  sys- 
tem. Something  is  wrong,  and  therefore 
unsettled,  in  a  system  which  does  not  work 
well  morally,  in  this  instance,  with  due  re- 
gard to  human  interests.  The  Church  can- 
not be  satisfied  with  the  gross  statistics  of 
national  prosperity.  Its  concern  is  as  much 
with  the  distribution  of  wealth  as  with  the 

76 


MINISTRY  OF  HUMAN  SYMPATHY 

making  of  it,  lest  the  methods  of  making  it 
may  harbor  various  sorts  of  latent  injustice. 
I  doubt  if  the  Church  can  hope  to  make 
much  headway  in  its  practical  interpreta- 
tion of  Christianity  among  those  with  whom 
socialism  has  become  a  new  form  of  en- 
thusiasm for  humanity,  except  through  a 
more  sane  but  equally  sincere  concern  for 
human  interests. 

I  have  already  said  that  socialism  in  its 
economic  teachings  is  not  representative  of 
labor.  Socialism  is  a  challenge  to  the  pre- 
sent economic  system.  Trade  unionism  is 
a  compromise  with  it.  "The  average  wage- 
earner,"  says  John  Mitchell,  "has  made  up 
his  mind  that  he  must  remain  a  wage-earner. 
He  has  given  up  the  hope  of  a  kingdom  to 
come  when  he  himself  will  be  a  capitalist, 
and  he  asks  that  the  reward  for  his  work 
be  given  to  him  as  a  workingman.  Singly, 
he  has  been  too  weak  to  enforce  his  just 
demands,  and  he  has  sought  strength  in 
77 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

union,  and  has  associated  himself  into  labor 
organizations.  .  .  .  There  is  no  necessary 
hostility  between  labor  and  capital.  Neither 
can  do  without  the  other:  each  has  evolved 
from  the  other.  Capital  is  labor  saved  and 
materialized :  the  power  to  labor  is  in  itself 
a  form  of  capital.  There  is  not  even  a  ne- 
cessary, fundamental  antagonism  between 
the  laborer  and  the  capitalist."  ' 

Beyond  the  ranks  of  the  socialists  and 
the  trade  unionists  lies  the  vast  unclassified 
army  of  workingmen,  ranging  from  the 
most  unskilled  laborer  to  the  workman  who 
is  in  a  small  way  a  private  capitalist.  Prob- 
ably the  majority  of  this  vast  body  of  labor- 
ers are  not  in  the  habit  of  thinking  much 
about  the  economic  aspects  of  their  work. 
The  one  characteristic  (the  only  one  with 
which  we  are  now  concerned)  common  to 
laborers  throughout  the  country,  whether  re- 
presenting organized  or  unorganized  labor, 

'  John  Mitchell,  Organized  Labor^  Preface. 

78 


MINISTRY  OF  HUMAN  SYMPATHY 

is  a  certain  indifiference  to  the  Church,  or 
alienation  from  it.  There  are  doubtless  a 
good  many  exaggerated  statements  current 
on  this  subject,  which  can  be  refuted  by 
reference  to  exceptional  communities  or 
churches,  but  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say 
that  the  Church  has  lost  its  hold  upon  the 
workingman  of  the  country,  and  that  this 
loss  of  influence  dates  from  the  rise  of  the 
workingman  through  his  own  efforts,  espe- 
cially through  organization.  To  the  degree 
in  which  the  workingman  has  been  made 
conscious  of  himself,  made  conscious,  that 
is,  of  his  relative  position  in  society,  he  has 
separated  himself  from  the  Church.  Turn 
which  way  we  will,  this  alienation  of  labor 
from  the  Church  is  the  background  in  the 
religious  prospect. 

In  considering  the   cause  or  causes  for 

this  state  of  affairs,  the  Church  ought  to 

be  very  careful  lest  it  shall  aggravate  the 

matter  by  offering  excuses.  There  really  is 

79 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH  . 

no  sufficient  excuse  for  this  loss  of  influence. 
Showing  how  it  may  have  happened,  or 
actually  did  happen,  is  not  showing  why  it 
should  have  happened.  The  plain  fact  is 
that  at  some  time  the  Church  began  to  lose 
its  influence  by  neglecting  a  very  essential 
part  of  its  business,  and  that  since  that  time 
it  has  not  been  sufficiently  earnest  in  doing 
this  essential  part  of  its  business  to  regain 
its  influence.  Of  course,  it  requires  far  more 
earnestness  to  regain  influence  than  it  would 
have  required  to  continue  to  deserve  it. 
The  Church  lost  contact  with  the  work- 
ingman  by  failing  to  understand  him,  much 
more  to  estimate  him,  by  failing  to  sym- 
pathize with  his  ambition  and  purpose  to  rise, 
and  by  failing  to  do  what  it  might  have  done 
to  make  a  sufficient  place  for  him  in  the 
social  order.  The  Church  of  a  democracy 
failed  in  its  application  of  the  democratic 
spirit  at  the  critical  time  and  in  the  critical 
place.  The  early  insensitiveness  of  the 
80 


MINISTRY  OF  HUMAN  SYMPATHY 

Church  to  the  condition  and  aims  of  the 
workingman,  the  lack  of  sympathy  —  the 
fellow-feeling  —  with  him,  gradually  led 
to  a  state  of  feeling  on  his  part  varying  from 
indifference  to  alienation.  The  situation  is 
now  very  complicated.  Of  that  there  is  no 
question.  The  practical  question  is,  Has 
it  gotten  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Church  ? 
Is  it  too  late  to  recover  it  with  a  view  to  the 
best  results  to  all  concerned  ? 

I  believe  that  the  answer  to  this  ques- 
tion lies  almost  entirely  with  the  laymen 
of  the  Church,  with  Christian  business  men. 
The  Church,  acting  through  its  authorized 
agencies,  may  put  itself  on  record  in  re- 
gard to  matters  of  common  social  concern, 
and  by  conference  and  cooperation  with 
labor  organizations  may  accomplish  much 
in  bringing  about  needed  reforms.  Individ- 
ual leaders  of  the  Church,  whose  course 
has  been  consistently  wise  and  courageous, 
may  become  more  and  more  influential  in 
8i 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

their  relations  with  the  leaders  of  labor  and 
with  the  masses.  Here  and  there  a  minister 
rightly  placed  in  a  labor  community,  and 
properly  equipped  for  his  task,  may  change 
local  sentiment  by  effecting  changes  in 
adverse  local  conditions.  But  any  large  and 
effective  movement,  looking  toward  the 
recovery  of  the  workingman  to  the  Church, 
must  come  through  those  who  are  in  close 
and  responsible  relations  to  him,  and  ought 
to  originate  with  them.  Of  course  this  im- 
plies the  personal  element,  but  it  does  not 
mean  that  individual  action,  however  sym- 
pathetic it  may  be,  is  sufficient.  The  situ- 
ation has  long  since  passed  by  the  stage 
of  paternalism.  Business  men  belong  to  a 
system  under  which  no  man  can  act  effect- 
ively alone.  In  other  words,  the  time  has 
come  when  those  who  would  seek  to  re- 
cover the  alienated  classes  within  the  ranks 
of  industry  must  give  as  much  attention  to 
the  working  of  the  present  general  eco- 
82 


MINISTRY  OF  HUMAN  SYMPATHY 

nomic  system,  as  to  the  details  of  their  re- 
spective kinds  of  business.  The  technical 
part  of  this  broader  work  must  be  intrusted 
to  experts ;  but  back  of  all  delegated  service 
there  is  always  the  opportunity  and  the  de- 
mand for  a  supporting  public  sentiment  in 
the  business  world,  for  organized  opinion, 
at  times  for  collective  action. 

It  is  not  altogether  a  bad  sign  that  many 
laymen  of  the  Church  are  growing  restive 
under  the  prominence  given  by  the  pulpit  to 
subjects  of  social  concern.  "  I  go  to  church," 
said  a  distinguished  la3^man,  as  recently  re- 
ported in  the  daily  press, "  every  Sunday  of 
the  year.  I  go  in  the  expectation  of  hearing  a 
sermon  based  on  the  principles  that  under- 
lie our  faith.  I  do  not  go  to  hear  about  po- 
litical economy  or  to  be  instructed  in  polit- 
ical principles.  I  go  to  have  my  best  feelings 
improved,  and  to  come  away  with  all  that 
is  best  in  me  quickened,  so  that  I  may  be  a 
better  citizen  in  every  respect.  I  therefore 

83 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

recommend  to  the  churches  that  when  they 
preach  to  their  people,  they  remember  that 
the  people  want  religion  and  lots  of  it,  and 
not  political  economy." 

In  criticism  of  this  kind  there  is  the  plain 
intimation  that  the  pulpit  takes  advantage 
of  its  position  to  invade  the  territory  which 
belongs  to  business  men.  "  Political  Eco- 
nomy," the  layman  virtually  says,  "  is  not 
your  business,  it  is  mine."  Without  waiving 
an}^  of  his  rights,  or  without  replying  merely 
in  the  way  of  retort,  why  should  not  the 
preacher  take  the  layman  at  his  word,  ut- 
tered or  implied,  and  force  upon  him  the 
natural,  and,  as  things  are  to-day,  the  highly 
significant  conclusion,  "Make  political  eco- 
nomy, with  all  of  its  present  human  compli- 
cations, your  business  as  a  Christian  busi- 
ness man.  It  is  to-day  the  chief  part  of  the 
business  of  Christian  business  men,  business 
of  a  vastly  higher  order  than  the  making  of 
money.  In  the  division  of  duties  which  you 

84 


MINISTRY  OF  HUMAN  SYMPATHY 

suggest,  here  is  your  duty  and  your  respon- 
sibility. You  belong  to  the  Church  as  much 
as  the  minister,  and  you  represent  it  more 
widely  and  more  sensitively  than  he  can 
possibly  represent  it.  Accept  your  share 
of  the  great  Christian  obligation,  now  so 
clearly  defined  and  so  honorable,  and  fulfill 
its  responsibilities  in  the  name  of  Christ  and 
his  Church." 

I  doubt  if  many  of  the  laymen  of  the 
Church  have  fully  considered  the  fact  that 
the  existing  economic  conditions  are  a  chal- 
lenge to  their  intelligence.  Money-making 
maybe  or  may  not  be  an  intellectual  process, 
at  least  there  are  different  degrees  of  intel- 
lectual ability  exemplified  in  the  act.  For- 
merly, in  fact  until  very  recently,  the  highest 
intellectual  test  was  the  ability  to  utilize 
unused  material  forces,  or  to  promote  new 
and  vast  enterprises.  The  incoming  test  of 
intellectual  ability  in  business  is  bringing  in 
a  very  well-recognized  and  imperative  moral 

85 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

factor.  The  change  is  seen  in  the  different 
use  of  the  term  "exploitation."  Gradually 
the  term  has  come  to  stand  for  selfish,  often 
for  ruthless  methods.  To  exploit  now  means 
more  frequently  than  otherwise  "to  bring 
out  anything  for  one's  own  advantage  with- 
out regard  to  rights  or  right."  The  intellect- 
ual test  now  puts  the  emphasis  more  and 
more  upon  the  ability  to  accomplish  great 
ends  with  due  "  regard  to  rights  and  right." 
The  game  of  the  street  is  no  longer  money- 
making,  however  large  may  be  the  result. 
That  is  not  the  whole  game.  The  whole 
game  includes  "right  and  rights'*'^ — hon- 
esty and  humanity.  If  the  Church  is  to  re- 
cover its  lost  relation  to  the  workingman, 
it  must  insist  that  the  laymen  of  the  Church 
who  are  in  business  shall  learn  to  play  the 
whole  game. 

This  learning  to  play  the  whole  game  — 
to  include  in  it  the  new  conception  of  "  right 
and  rights"  in  the  transactions  of  business, 
86 


MINISTRY  OF  HUMAN  SYMPATHY 

in  the  accumulation  of  wealth,  in  the  pro- 
motion of  great  enterprises  —  is  not  the  task 
of  a  day.  A  great  deal  which  has  come 
in  through  tradition  and  through  practice 
must  be  unlearned.  The  new  conception 
of  "right"  denies  the  theory  that  the  end 
justifies  the  means,  the  waning  theory  of 
success;  denies  the  theory  that  what  is 
gained  by  evasion  of  law,  or  by  legaliz- 
ing a  wrong,  can  be  morally  right ;  denies 
the  theory  that  charity  can  cover  the  sins 
of  business.  And  the  new  conception  of 
"rights"  requires  a  sincere  and  controlling 
regard  for  all  the  human  relations  and  inter- 
ests concerned  in  it.  It  absolutely  denies 
the  implication  of  the  old  maxim  that  "busi- 
ness is  business,"  affirming  that  business  is 
business  only  when  it  takes  account  of  all 
the  human  factors  involved.  Without  doubt 
this  conception  of  business  makes  business 
more  difficult,  but  it  is  just  this  conception 
of  it  which  will  make  it  more  and  more 

87 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

honorable,  which  is  making  it  more  and 
more  honorable.  The  making  of  money 
has  ceased  to  be  very  much  of  a  distinc- 
tion. The  ease  with  which  one  may  be- 
come a  millionaire,  the  greater  ease  with 
which  once  a  millionaire  he  may  become  a 
multi-millionaire,  does  not  conduce  to  the 
sort  of  distinction  which  men  most  crave. 
That  is  always  associated  in  some  way  with 
the  humanities.  There  lay,  and  still  lies, 
the  honor  of  the  professions.  These  are  all 
based  upon  human  relations,  the  relation  of 
man  to  man  through  justice,  through  mercy, 
through  truth.  The  rating  of  a  man  profes- 
sionally in  the  public  esteem  is  determined 
by  the  evidence  of  his  loyalty  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  his  profession,  and  by  his  ability 
to  make  it  of  the  largest  service  to  human- 
ity. No  sane  man  can  deny  the  material 
benefits  which  accrue  from  nearly  all  the 
transactions  which  pass  under  the  name  of 
business.  No  one  well  informed  can  be  un- 
88 


MINISTRY  OF  HUMAN  SYMPATHY 

mindful  of  the  benefactions  to  society  asso- 
ciated with  the  names  of  business  men.  No 
one  can  overlook  the  moral  support  to 
society  in  the  examples  of  integrity,  con- 
spicuous and  inconspicuous,  which  charac- 
terize the  vast  trust-bearing  service  of  the 
business  world.  But  if  business  is  to  become 
a  profession,  as  I  believe  it  will  become,  it 
must  be  by  making  the  human  interests 
involved  in  it  the  first  concern.  The  lack 
in  this  regard,  the  lack,  in  the  final  analysis, 
of  human  sympathy,  has  the  most  direct 
and  appreciable  effect  in  the  alienation  of 
the  workingman  from  the  Church.  That  is 
what  it  has  cost  the  Church. 

As  this  alienating  process  has  been  going 
on  for  a  generation  we  may  expect  that  the 
work  of  recovery  will  be  the  work  of  a 
generation.  The  work  cannot  be  done  by 
sentiment,  it  cannot  be  done  through  any 
reversion  to  paternalism,  above  all  it  cannot 
be  done  in  haste.   As  Bagehot  has  pointed 

89 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

out,  haste  is  the  vice  of  philanthropy.  "  To 
act  rightly  in  modern  society  requires  a 
great  deal  of  previous  study,  a  great  deal 
of  assimilated  information,  a  great  deal  of 
sharpened  imagination;  and  these  perqui- 
sites of  sound  action  require  much  time, 
much  '  lying  in  the  sun.' "  '  There  must  be 
much  patience,  much  toleration,  much  faith, 
and  very  much  plain  speaking;  for  it  is  not 
to  be  assumed  for  a  moment  that  prejudice, 
or  violence,  or  any  kind  of  wrong  thinking 
or  wrong  doing,  on  the  part  of  labor,  is  to  be 
condoned.  Movements  like  that  of  the  Civic 
Federation,  or  legislation  looking  toward 
conciliation,  are  suggestive,  but  no  specific 
is  here  urged.  It  has  been  assumed  that  the 
business  laymen  of  the  Church  are  impatient 
of  instruction  as  to  their  business  relations. 
No  attempt,  therefore,  has  been  made  in 
these  pages  to  show  precisely  how  these 
relations  with  the  alienated  classes  are  to  be 

*  Bagehot,  Physics  and  Politics^  p.  188. 

90 


MINISTRY  OF  HUMAN  SYMPATHY 

improved.  Insistence  has  been  placed  upon 
the  manifest  need  of  recovering  the  alien- 
ated classes,  and  upon  the  application  of  the 
intelligence  of  the  business  layman  to  this 
point  as  a  part  of  his  business.  The  respon- 
sibility for  such  moral  adjustments  of  the 
economic  system  as  shall  remove  the  pre- 
sent causes  of  alienation  and  distrust  on  the 
part  of  workingmen,  has  been  laid  upon 
the  laymen  of  the  Church.  A  long  step  in 
advance  will  have  been  taken  when  the 
responsibility  in  this  matter  has  been  recog- 
nized and  accepted.  Who  can  doubt  the 
final  result,  if  the  laity  of  the  Church,  who 
represent  so  largely  the  business  of  the 
country,  shall  prove  faithful  to  the  ministry 
of  human  sympathy  in  its  application  to 
this  most  difficult,  if  not  otherwise  inacces- 
sible, task  now  before  the  Church  ? 

The  Church  has  a  further  and  very  abun- 
dant occasion   for  its   ministry  of  human 
sympathy  in  connection  with  the  distribu- 
91 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

tion  of  foreign  immigrants  throughout  the 
country.  Religious  hospitality  may  take 
either  of  two  forms  on  the  part  of  the  Pro- 
testant churches.  When  the  religious  ante- 
cedents warrant,  the  religious  immigrant 
may  be  given  a  home  in  any  church  of 
his  choice,  or  he  may  be  aided  directly  in 
maintaining  his  own  order  of  worship.  The 
Protestant  churches  are  by  no  means  remiss 
in  the  exercise  of  this  form  of  hospitality. 
Far-reaching  provision  has  been  made  in 
behalf  of  those  accessible  to  Protestant  in- 
fluence, through  the  churches  directly,  and 
no  less  effectively  through  schools,  colleges, 
and  seminaries  adjusted  to  their  uses. 

There  is  another  type  of  religious  hos- 
pitality which  can  find  expression  only  in 
a  certain  sympathetic  attitude  toward  the 
religious  immigrant,  whatever  may  have 
been  his  previous  affiliations.  This  means 
that  we  ought  to  be  ready  to  give  thanks 
that  the  immigrant  is  usually  religious  and 
92 


MINISTRY  OF  HUMAN  SYMPATHY 

that  he  brings  his  religion  with  him. 
We  are  the  rather  inclined  to  wish,  that  if 
he  must  come,  he  would  leave  that  behind 
him.  And  if  by  chance  we  learn  that  he 
has  in  any  numbers  broken  away  from  his 
religious  environment,  or  is  in  revolt  against 
it,  we  are  apt  to  count  that  fact  altogether 
in  his  favor.  Whereas  the  fact  to  be  con- 
sidered and  approved  is  that  the  religious 
life  of  the  immigrant  is  the  best  contri- 
bution which  he  has  made,  and  in  present 
circumstances  the  best  which  he  can  make 
to  the  country  of  his  adoption.  Instead  of 
antagonizing  it  we  ought  to  guard  it,  not  in 
form  but  in  spirit,  and  make  sure  that  he 
transmits  it  to  his  children.  If  we  Ameri- 
canize the  children  of  the  immigrant  out  of 
the  religion  of  their  fathers,  leaving  upon 
their  minds  the  impression  that  religious 
freedom  means  irreligion,  we  are  simply  ex- 
changing a  possible  asset  of  great  value  to 
citizenship  for  a  sure  danger  and  risk  to  it. 

93 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

Herein  consists  the  chief  responsibility  of 
the  public  schools  of  the  great  cities.  I  sup- 
pose that  the  teachers  in  the  elementary 
schools  of  the  foreign  sections  of  New  York 
and  Chicago  are  doing  more  than  any  equal 
number  of  persons  to  determine  the  moral 
future  of  the  country.  I  have  reason  to 
believe  that  they  are  proving  adequate  to 
their  task.  The  name  "  teacher  "  is  a  house- 
hold word  in  the  new  families.  The  sympa- 
thy, the  trustworthiness,  the  moral  authority 
of  "teacher"  is  assumed  in  the  home,  as 
well  as  by  the  child.  Doubtless  many  a 
teacher  has  learned  her  own  lesson  of  re- 
spect for  the  sacredness  of  things  which 
are  sacred.  The  public  school  cannot  teach 
religious  doctrine;  it  can,  under  its  limita- 
tions and  because  of  them,  do  a  greater 
thing,  —  it  can  teach  reverence. 

Reference  ought  also  to  be  made  to  the 
work  of  the  social  settlement  in  the  assimil- 
ation of  the  foreign  population  in  the  cities. 
94 


MINISTRY  OF  HUMAN  SYMPATHY 

This  work  is  much  more  advanced  than 
that  of  the  public  schools.  It  follows  the 
really  domesticated  immigrant  into  his  so- 
cial and  civic  relations.  It  helps  him  to  dis- 
criminate between  the  good  and  the  bad 
agencies  in  the  new  civilization  which  he  is 
trying  to  understand.  It  introduces  him  to 
wider  opportunities  than  he  would  other- 
wise discover.  Above  all,  it  enables  him  to 
utilize  himself  as  a  force  for  the  social  good, 
to  realize  the  fact  that  he  has  much  to  give 
as  well  as  to  receive.  The  work  of  the  social 
settlement,  however,  like  that  of  the  public 
school,  can  only  be  referred  to  in  the  way 
of  illustration,  as  it  cannot  fairly  be  claimed 
as  an  agency  of  the  Church,  though  often 
originating  under  its  incentives. 

As  the  tide  of  immigration  is  now  begin- 
ning to  flow  from  eastern  Europe,  another 
and  less  familiar  type  of  religious  life  is  be- 
ginning to  appear  in  our  cities.  It  is  esti- 
mated that  there  are  already  nearly  half  a 
95 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

million  of  the  members  of  the  Greek  Cath- 
olic Church  in  this  country.  The  new  im- 
migration introduces  new  nationalities  and 
races  as  well  as  a  new  form  of  religion  — 
nationalities  and  races  which  seem  more 
alien  than  any  which  have  preceded.  There 
is  very  much  danger  that  the  Protestant 
churches  will  allow  the  strangeness,  and 
the  undesirableness,  in  some  respects,  of 
the  new  immigrant  to  affect  their  under- 
standing and  appreciation  of  his  religious 
spirit.  What  if  it  shall  prove  that  the  Sla- 
vonic race,  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  its  own 
form  of  Christianity,  has  a  contribution  of 
essential  value  to  make  to  American  Chris- 
tianity ?  Some  years  ago  Dr.  George  Wash- 
burn, then  president  of  Robert  College, 
writing  on  "The  Coming  of  the  Slav"' 
especially  in  relation  to  European  civiliza- 
tion, gave  the  following  resume  of  an  ad- 
dress by  a  young  Slav.  "  The  Latin  and  the 

'  The  Contemporary  Review^  January,  1898. 

96 


MINISTRY  OF  HUMAN  SYMPATHY 

Teutonic  races  have  had  their  day,  and  they 
have  failed  to  establish  a  truly  Christian 
civilization.  They  have  done  great  things 
in  the  organization  of  society,  in  the  de- 
velopment of  material  wealth,  in  literature, 
art,  and  science,  and  especially  in  recogniz- 
ing and  securing  in  some  degree  the  rights 
of  the  individual  man ;  but  they  have  exalted 
the  material  above  the  spiritual  and  made 
Mammon  their  God.  They  have  lost  the  no- 
bler aspirations  of  youth,  and  are  governed 
now  by  the  sordid  calculations  of  old  age. 
We  are  waiting  the  coming  of  the  Slav  to 
regenerate  Europe,  establish  the  principle 
of  universal  brotherhood  and  the  King- 
dom of  Christ  on  the  earth."  Without  in- 
dorsing this  statement  of  the  Slav  orator, 
either  as  history  or  as  prophecy,  Dr.  Wash- 
burn proceeded  to  give  the  following  testi- 
mony to  the  Slav  peasant  —  the  man  who 
is  now  appearing  among  us  as  an  immi- 
grant. "  In  his  religious  character,  at  least, 

97 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

the  Moujik  is  the  most  original  and  most 
interesting  peasant  in  Europe.  He  has 
grave  faults  and  weaknesses,  like  other 
men;  but  his  peculiar  virtues,  his  pathetic 
endurance  of  suffering,  his  profound  sym- 
pathy with  humanity,  his  faith  in  voluntary 
self-sacrifice,  his  very  dreams  of  destiny, 
commend  him  to  the  sympathy  of  all  the 
world.  He  does  not  seem  to  belong  to  the 
matter-of-fact  world  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. .  .  .  The  Moujik  has  a  sublime  spirit 
of  self-sacrifice.  He  will  sacrifice  anything 
for  what  he  conceives  to  be  his  duty.  This 
spirit  of  self-sacrifice  does  not  manifest  it- 
self alone  in  great  and  exceptional  deeds  of 
heroism,  but  in  daily  life." 

It  is  an  unseemly  thing  for  a  Christian 
nation  which  invites  and  stimulates  immi- 
gration to  estimate  the  immigrant  simply 
by  his  value  as  an  unskilled  laborer.  But 
as  the  quality  of  his  religious  life  is  in  most 
cases  the  only  other  contribution  of  imme- 

98 


MINISTRY  OF  HUMAN  SYMPATHY 

diate  value  which  he  brings,  it  is  for  the 
Church  to  estimate  this  quality  aright,  and 
to  apprise  the  nation  of  its  value.  Evidently 
there  is  a  growing  need  of  the  broader  cul- 
tivation of  the  art  of  religious  hospitality. 

The  opportunity  for  the  exercise  of  the 
ministry  of  sympathy  in  connection  with  the 
incoming  of  immigrants  from  the  more  re- 
mote and  alien  peoples  of  Christendom  sug- 
gests the  much  wider  opportunity  for  its  ex- 
ercise in  connection  with  the  work  of  foreign 
missions.  It  is  evident  that  success  in  the 
further  prosecution  of  this  work  depends 
more  than  formerly  upon  the  kind  of  spirit 
in  which  it  is  carried  on.  The  time  has  come 
when  the  non-Christian  peoples,  if  they  are 
to  be  reached,  must  be  made  to  feel  not  only 
the  ardor  and  aggressiveness  of  Christian 
love  but  also  its  fine  restraints.  It  must 
be  recognized  more  completely  that  the 
gateway  through  which  all  must  pass,  who 
would  do  good  in  any  way  to  their  fellow 

99 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

men,  is  humility.  So  our  Lord  came  to  us. 
"He  humbled  himself."  Unfortunately  the 
great  missionary  nations  of  the  Protestant 
faith  are  not  humble  nations.  The  charac- 
teristics of  love  which  Paul  so  much  exalts 
are  not  the  characteristics  most  in  evidence 
in  the  United  States,  Great  Britain,  or  Ger- 
many. "  Love  vaunteth  not  itself,  is  not 
puffed  up,  does  not  behave  itself  unseemly, 
is  not  provoked  .  .  .  beareth  all  things, 
believeth  all  things,  hopeth  all  things,  en- 
dureth  all  things."  The  missionary,  how- 
ever humble  he  may  be  in  spirit  or  in  prac- 
tice, is  obliged  to  do  his  work  against  the 
conspicuous  background  of  national  pride 
and  arrogance.  This  grievous  inconsistency 
is  becoming  so  widespread  and  obstruct- 
ive that  it  raises  the  question  whether  the 
Church  itself  is  sufficiently  possessed  of  the 
divine  quality  of  sympathy  to  prosecute  its 
missionary  work  in  a  becoming  spirit.  The 
exercise  of  sympathy  implies  the  habit,  the 

lOO 


MINISTRY  OF  HUMAN  g¥M!>XTH\^  i 

gift.  Ungifted  persons  are  apt  to  be  awk- 
ward and  ineffective  in  their  attempts  at 
sympathy.  This  is  not  a  question  of  man- 
ners. Sympathy  will  somehow  declare  itself 
when  it  is  the  compelling  motive.  Is  sym- 
pathy a  sufficiently  dominant  and  compell- 
ing part  of  the  missionary  motive  in  the 
churches  ?  Love  for  the  world  does  not  ne- 
cessarily mean  sympathy  with  men,  nations, 
and  races.  It  may  not  be  simply  and  in- 
tensely human.  Not  infrequently  it  is  asso- 
ciated with  a  certain  sense  of  superiority 
which  may  be  congruous  with  pity,  but 
which  is  incongruous  with  sympathy. 

In  so  far  as  Protestantism  was  taken  pos- 
session of  by  Puritanism,  as  in  the  early  his- 
tory of  this  country,  it  grew  perceptibly  un- 
sympathetic in  tone.  The  Puritan  did  not 
ask  for  sympathy.  Sympathy  seemed  to 
him  to  be  debilitating  to  faith.  He  preferred 
to  think,  to  act,  and  to  suffer  alone.  So  he 
naturally  developed  a  strong,  virile,  self- 

lOI 


i    fl^E  PUISIGTJON  OF  THE  CHURCH 

reliant,  and,  at  certain  points,  self-assertive 
type  of  religion.  His  theology  was  self-cen- 
tred, in  that  it  bore  the  distinctive  marks  of 
independent  thinking.  He  did  not  hesitate 
to  think  his  thoughts  through  to  their  logi- 
cal, and  therefore  to  him  their  final  conclu- 
sion. The  old  New  England  theology  did 
indeed  allow  so-called  "  improvements,"  but 
only  because  it  was  haunted  by  the  idea  of 
perfection.  This  independence  and  persist- 
ence of  thought  was  justified  by  a  willing- 
ness to  take  the  fortune  of  beliefs  and  con- 
victions. All  the  greater  acts  of  the  Puritan 
in  his  religious  and  political  life  were  due 
to  the  sure  and  quick  sequence  of  duty  fol- 
lowing upon  belief.  The  motive  power  was 
always  in  his  beliefs  much  more  than  in  his 
sympathies.  In  his  struggles  and  sufferings 
for  liberty,  he  struggled  and  suffered  for 
principles  rather  than  for  men.  He  really 
loved  principles  more  than  he  loved  men. 
The  passion  of  his  soul  worked  in  that  way. 

I02 


MINISTRY  OF  HUMAN  SYMPATHY 

When,  therefore,  the  doctrine  —  the  prin- 
ciple—  of  a  universal  atonement  became 
incorporated  into  his  religious  belief,  the 
magnificent  sequence  of  duty  was  foreign 
missions. 

The  impulse  to  foreign  missions,  in  this 
country,  did  not  spring  out  of  the  know- 
ledge of  the  world.  The  early  missionaries 
did  not  know  the  world  of  their  time,  neither 
did  the  Church  which  sent  them  forth.  The 
world  which  is  to  us  so  human,  was  to  them 
altogether  a  theological  world.  It  was  a 
world  over  which  the  imagination  could 
brood,  reaching  the  sympathies  through 
preconceived  views  of  human  nature  rather 
than  through  contact  with  individual  lives. 
Men  ever3^where  were  one  and  alike,  moral 
units  under  the  bondage  of  sin,  and  in  the 
scheme  of  salvation.  Foreign  missions  could 
have  had  no  nobler  or  more  impressive 
origin  than  under  such  a  vast  generalization 
as  was  then  possible,  having  its  practical 
103 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

outcome  in  the  idealization  of  man  as  a  spir- 
itual being.  Every  human  soul  stood  forth 
in  its  own  solitary  grandeur,  undiminished 
by  the  degradation,  and  un exalted  by  the 
glory,  of  its  environment. 

How  can  the  missionary  motive  be  per- 
petuated under  the  new  realistic  knowledge 
of  the  world,  a  world  so  near  and  so  close, 
so  differentiated  by  races  and  nations,  so 
specialized  by  religions,  so  individualized 
by  the  names  and  deeds  of  men  which  are 
borne  from  land  to  land  ?  The  effect  of  this 
new  knowledge  has  not  yet  reached  to  the 
depth  of  the  missionary  motive.  Curiosity 
respecting  our  fellow  men  has  been  measur- 
ably satisfied,  at  least  it  has  passed  over  into 
the  more  dignified  processes  of  scientific  in- 
vestigation. We  are  fairly  well  advanced  in 
the  study  of  races  and  of  religions.  The  uti- 
lization of  the  new  knowledge  in  the  interest 
of  trade,  measures  more  than  anything  else 
the  interest  of  the  more  developed  in  the  less 
104 


MINISTRY  OF  HUMAN  SYMPATHY 

developed  nations.  We  are  with  one  accord 
"  exploiting  "  the  backward  peoples.  In  cer- 
tain conspicuous  instances  we  have  reached 
the  stage  of  recognition,  fair  treatment,  and 
cooperation.  As  civilization  spreads,  some  of 
the  obligations  of  civilization  are  accepted. 
But  how  far  removed  are  these  results  of 
the  new  knowledge  of  the  world  measured 
by  their  effect  upon  the  missionary  motive! 
Where  is  the  equivalent  of  the  idealization 
of  the  human  soul  to  be  found?  Or  assum- 
ing that  we  are  not  to  look  for  its  equivalent, 
holding  it  still  as  indispensable,  where  are 
we  to  look  for  its  supports  in  our  realistic 
knowledge  of  men  and  of  their  environment  ? 
The  new  knowledge  of  the  world  cannot 
reach  to  the  depth  of  the  missionary  motive 
except  as  it  goes  far  enough  to  awaken  the 
fellow-feeling  in  the  heart  of  Christian  peo- 
ples, the  sense  of  oneness  in  sin,  the  sense 
of  sympathy  in  struggle  and  aspiration  and 
hope.  There  are  manifest  gradations  in  evil 
105 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

mindedness  and  in  evil  doing.  This  has 
been  revealed  by  our  larger  knowledge  of 
the  world.  We  can  see  that  we  of  the  more 
virile  Christian  peoples  have  outgrown  the 
lower  and  more  cruel  sins  of  the  primitive 
races,  and  that  we  have  not  attained  to  the 
more  subtle  and  refined  art  of  sinning,  char- 
acteristic of  the  older  civilizations.  We  can 
see  how  perilously  near  we  still  are  to  the 
sins  which  we  have  escaped,  and  also  what 
possibilities  of  sin  lie  before  us.  Our  know- 
ledge ought  to  give  us  a  very  deep  and  wide 
sense  of  the  meaning  of  the  fellowship  of 
sin.  The  missionary  motive  cannot  start 
from  above  or  outside  the  experience  of 
this  fellowship.  If  men  have  no  needs  or 
wants  commensurate  with  Christianity,  why 
try  to  give  them  Christianity  instead  of  civ- 
ilization? If  we  have  been  civilized  only, 
how  can  we  give  them  Christianity?  The 
missionary  is  really  the  deepest  interpreter 
of  humanity  who  is  at  work  to-day  in  the 
io6 


MINISTRY  OF  HUMAN  SYMPATHY 

world.  He  is  doing  more  than  any  other 
sort  of  man  to  break  through  the  superfi- 
cialities of  civilization.  He  is  the  medium 
of  exchange  between  men  the  world  over 
whose  conscious  needs  are  the  deepest,  and 
whose  spiritual  aspirations  are  the  highest. 
For  this  reason  the  relative  place  of  the 
missionary  in  the  Church  is  rising,  and  also 
his  relative  influence  in  the  world.  The 
world  is  beginning  to  recognize  and  ac- 
knowledge the  effect  of  his  fundamental, 
because  sympathetic,  work  in  human  na- 
ture, as  it  passes  so  often  beyond  results  in 
the  individual  life  into  the  life  of  commu- 
nities and  states.  It  is  seen  more  and  more 
to  be  of  the  kind  which  leads  up  to  con- 
structive statesmanship.  The  Church  finds 
in  him  the  most  unrelenting  foe  to  preju- 
dice, —  ecclesiastical,  national,  or  racial,  — 
and  its  most  effective  leader  out  of  provin- 
cialism. He  is  the  antidote  against  the  be- 
numbing effect  of  an  easy  and  careless  toler- 
107 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

ation,  quickening  and  stimulating  the  real 
sympathies  of  the  mind  and  heart  of  the 
Church.  In  these  days  of  specialized  ser- 
vice, his  ministry  is  that  of  teaching  man 
to  know  man,  interpreting  as  well  as  inves- 
tigating humanity,  helping  the  Church  to 
keep  faith  with  its  own  ideals,  and  thereby 
helping  the  world  to  believe  in  the  necessity 
and  efficiency  of  the  Church.  The  ministry 
of  human  sympathy  has  its  clearest  oppor- 
tunity to-day  in  the  work  of  foreign  missions, 
and  its  clearest  exemplification  in  the  inter- 
pretative power  of  the  far-sighted  missionary. 

There  are  other  ministries  that  fall 
within  the  scope  of  the  Church,  which  will 
be  missed  in  the  foregoing  treatment  of  its 
function  in  modern  society.  I  should  doubt- 
less accept  those  which  might  be  added, 
and  agree  with  the  estimate  which  might 
be  placed  upon  them.  There  is  the  ministry 
pertaining  to  spiritual  devotion  and  wor- 
io8 


MINISTRY  OF  HUMAN  SYMPATHY 

ship,  the  ministry  of  religious  education,  the 
ministry  concerned  with  the  protection  and 
development  of  the  family  (more  than  ever 
resting  upon  the  Church),  and  the  constant 
ministry  of  charity  both  personal  and  organ- 
ized: to  which  some  would  add  the  ministry 
of  healing,  a  very  delicate  kind  of  minis- 
try, to  be  recalled  only  in  view  of  the  pre- 
sent deficiency  of  medical  science  on  the 
spiritual  side,  when  compared  with  its  won- 
derful advance  on  the  material  side.  These 
are  all  in  and  of  the  Church,  its  own  by  his- 
toric right  and  by  continuous  service.  But 
I  have  wished  to  put  the  emphasis  upon 
those  ministries  which  seem  to  be  most  ur- 
gent and  imperative  —  the  more  urgent  and 
imperative  because  they  have  been  allowed 
to  lapse  in  some  degree  according  to  the 
reasons  which  have  been  given.  There 
is  an  unmistakable  call  for  the  resump- 
tion of  the  ministry  of  spiritual  authority, 
and  also  for  the  recovery  of  the  ministry  of 
109 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

human  sympathy.  When  these  ministries 
shall  have  been  restored  to  their  normal 
efficiency,  it  will  be  a  more  gracious  task 
to  take  a  survey  of  the  complete  function 
of  the  Church  in  modern  society:  to  show 
how  under  the  separation  of  Church  and 
State  in  this  country  the  Church  is  vitally 
affecting  the  State;  to  show  how  under  the 
vast  increase  of  moral  agencies  both  individ- 
ual and  corporate  the  Church  remains  the 
great  moral  agency  of  society;  to  show  how 
under  the  growth  of  population,  and  in  the 
midst  of  rapid  changes,  the  Church  has  main- 
tained its  relative  growth  and  adjusted  itself 
with  greater  gain  than  loss  to  changed  condi- 
tions; in  a  word,  to  take  a  fair  and  just  meas- 
urement of  the  modern  Church  according 
to  the  great  dimensions  which  are  visible  and 
well  defined,  —  its  length  and  its  breadth. 
It  has  been  the  single  object  of  this  present 
study  to  measure  its  depth. 


CAMBRIDGE  .  MASSACHUSEITS 
U    .    S    .   A 


MODERN 
RELIGIOUS 
PROBLEMS 

Edited  by  REV.  A.  W.  VERNON,  D.  D. 

The  aim  of  this  series  of  books  is  to  lay  before 
the  great  body  of  intelligent  people  in  the  Eng- 
lish-speaking world  the  precise  results  of  modern 
scholarship,  so  that  men  both  within  and  without 
the  churches  may  be  able  to  understand  the  con- 
ception of  the  Christian  religion  (and  of  its  Sacred 
Books)  which  obtains  among  its  leading  scholars 
to-day,  and  that  they  may  intelligently  cooperate 
in  the  great  practical  problems  with  which  the 
churches  are  now  confronted. 

THE  BOOKS  PUBLISHED  THUS  FAR  ARE: 

THE  GOSPEL  OF  JESUS 

By  G.  W.  KNOX 

With  General  Introduction  to  the  Series 

"Admirably  written."  —  Chicago  Record-Herald. 

"  It  is  surprising  how  much  clear  thinking  and  compact 
information  Professor  Knox  has  put  into  his  hundred 
pages."  —  Independent. 

HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  CO. 


MODERN  RELIGIOUS  PROBLEMS 

Continued 


SIN  AND  ITS 
FORGIVENESS 

By  WILLIAM  DeWITT  HYDE 

"  No  exposition  of  a  theological  doctrine  has  ever  brought 
a  deep  subject  more  into  touch  with  real  life  than  Presi- 
dent Hyde's  admirable  discussion."  —  Independent, 

"  It  is  almost  needless  to  say  that  it  is  an  interesting, 
very  readable  book  and  earnestly  recommended  to  every 
one."  —  Boston  Transcript. 

THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE 
CHURCH 

By  BENJAMIN  W.  BACON 

"  Like  all  of  Dr.  Bacon's  work,  is  thoroughly  done." 

Hartford  Courani. 

"The  sanest  and  most  comprehensive  statement  of  the 
Christian  religion."  —  St.  Louis  Globe-Democrat. 


HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  CO. 


MODERN  RELIGIOUS  PROBLEMS 

Continued 


HISTORICAL  AND 
RELIGIOUS  VALUE  OF 
THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL 

By  E.  F.  SCOTT 

"  Sets  forth  clearly  its  surpassing  worth  as  devotional 
literature."  —  Christian  Register. 

"  Professor  Scott  has  admirably  succeeded  in  presenting 
such  a  difficult  problem  so  clearly ;  and  he  brings  to  the 
reader  a  report  from  a  wide  field  without  confusion.  .  .  . 
It  is  a  clear,  interesting,  sympathetic  study  of  a  great 
problem."  —  Boston  Transcript, 

THE  EARLIEST  SOURCES 
FOR  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

By  F.  C.  BURKITT 

"A  brief  and  frank  discussion  of  the  Gospel  stories." 

Philadelphia  Press, 

"This  little  volume  is  really  a  monument  of  Biblical 
learning,  and  it  is  only  just  to  the  author  to  say  that  his 
scholarly  investigation  of  the  entire  subject  helps  to 
strengthen  Christian  faith."  —  Rochester  Post  Express, 

HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  CO. 


MODERN  RELIGIOUS  PROBLEMS 

Continued 


THE  CHURCH  AND 
LABOR 

By  CHARLES  STELZLE 

"  Mr.  Stelzle's  *  The  Church  and  Labor '  signalizes  one 
of  the  most  vital  rapprochements  in  the  moral  life  of  to- 
day, and  it  is  an  important  and  enduring  document  in  the 
present-day  stage  of  American  history."  —  Robert  A. 
Woods,  South  End  House,  Boston. 

"Of  unusual  interest  and  worth  is  the  study  of  'The 
Church  and  Labor.'  ...  It  shows  us  social  facts  and  forces 
as  they  are  seen  in  the  light  of  the  harmonizing  and 
redeeming  spirit  of  Christianity."  —  Chicago  Record- 
Herald. 

PAUL  AND  PAULINISM 

By  JAMES  MOFFATT 

"  Deals  comprehensively  with  the  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles 
and  his  teaching  as  revealed  in  the  epistles  attributed  to 
him."  —  Philadelphia  Press. 

"  It  is  brief,  it  is  luminous,  and  it  has  distinction  and 
charm  of  style."  —  Chicago  Record-Herald. 


HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  CO. 


tl\V.?.^t™  °^  25  CENTS 

THIS   BOOK  ;?'the  oTr^Vu^"^  ™  """■"' 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  sS  ce„?=  PENALTY 

°AY    AND    TO    $i°l   ON    J„ V  ™^  """"TH 
OVERDUE.  '^    '^"E    SEVENTH    DAY 


AUG     8  1939 


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